Chapter Text
“Good, again”
Regulus’ padded fists collided with Sirius’ outstretched hands, throwing two ferocious jabs and finishing with a significantly weaker right hook.
“Nice!, you are on fire with this sassy new hair”
“Sassy?” Regulus asked with a questioning look towards his brother and his dramatics. He had cut his hair slightly with his curls now coming down to just about his ears, however this was not the most significant change with the tips of his ebony hair being dyed a dark cherry red.
After his breakdown about Rabastan, Sirius had been filled with a murderous rage, every instinct yelling at him to track the son of a bitch down and tear him limb from limb. But sensing his brother needed him more he had instead dragged Regulus’ to the nearest drug store for scissors and hair dye.
“Is this really necessary?” Regulus had asked.
“Yes! After a break up you need to change something about yourself, it’s like the cardinal rule!” Sirius had exclaimed while reaching for the first box of colour he saw.
He continued “Let’s work on that 2-3-2 combo though, I want you to be ready with that devastating hook if you ever see Rabastan again”
Regulus froze “Woah, that is not why I’m doing this, Rabastan is in the past”.
“Really so you don’t wanna punch your abusive ex? Cause I do.”
“No, I'm doing this for me not him, new hair cut, new last name, new job”.
After Regulus had explained everything he had brought up the prospect of a job, confused at what to do.
“I don’t know what to do! I mean I loved being a nurse and I wanna help people but I just can’t with Rabastan out there.”
An idea popped into Sirius’ head “So what you're saying” he started a smile creeping up onto his face with (in his opinion) the absolute brilliance of his idea “is that you want to help people without them seeing your face?”
“Sirius I swear to god if you suggest Super Hero-” Regulus had said pinching the bridge knowing it’s not above his brother to suggest something like that.
“No, no I might have an actual idea, you know Mary-” Sirius had then explained what Mary’s old job had been and had offered to see if he could get Regulus a shot since there was now a vacance with Mary gone.
A few days later Sirius was living with L.A’s newest 9-1-1 operator.
Regulus' phone buzzed.
“Oh shit” he exclaimed, “I’m gonna be late, sorry I gotta go” he said rushing off.
“Good Luck! Make me proud!” Sirius yelled, blowing his little brother an embarrassingly loud kiss laughing as he turned to flip him off.
He took his gloves off, flexing his fingers slightly, stalling to get ready for his own job.
This past week had not only brought the surprise of his little brother running away but it had also brought him the aggravating (hot) annoyance that was Remus Lupin.
Sirius didn’t understand. How could that man come into his place of work, looking that hot and acting so unbothered like his mere presence didn’t make Sirius want to tear his skin off.
He grabbed his bag from the locker and headed to the parking lot where his car was parked.
Not only had Remus come in and rocked Sirius world to its core but no one even seemed to care! Not even James, his best friend and platonic soulmate could understand Sirius' annoyance. Infact James and Remus had even started to become friends!
As he pulled up to the firehouse he could hear Remus' distinct, deep voice coming from inside followed by a roar of laughter from the people he must be talking to.
Sirius rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath, he could already tell that today would be a long day.
***
James Potter wasn’t an insecure man. He knew he looked good with his smooth bronze skin, perfectly messy hair, warm brown eyes and a meticulously built muscular frame. That however didn’t stop the suffocating feeling of insecurity from creeping up on him and wrapping its vines around his chest and squeezing .
As Lily swiped through the photos on the tablet he presented her he couldn’t help but notice the remaining scars along his arms and the one in the center of his head announcing its presence like a scarlet letter proclaiming his shortcomings to the world.
James knew how lucky he was, for fuck’s sake he had a piece rebar go straight through his fucking skull! The doctor told him that while most of the scar will fade or vanish completely he would probably forever have a little mark in the center of his head, a testament to his survival .
Lily sighed setting down the tablet “James-”
“You hate them”
“No- well er yes but not because of you, because I think this whole calendar thing is kinda stupid.” she replied softly, giving James an apologetic look.
“You don’t think I have a shot” he supplied for her.
“James, darling, you know I don’t like these types of things, it's not about you personally. Why is this so important to you though?”
James sighed, sinking further into the plush couch behind him “I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that the accident didn’t ruin me, that Ros-” he trailed off, finding it too painful to speak his ex-girlfriends name.
He didn’t have to finish as though Lily finished for him “That Rosalind wasn’t right.”
Memories flashed through James head of that night, the shear terror of being trapped in the car unable to move, waking up in a hospital having no awareness of where he was, Rosalind looking at him in disgust telling him he was worthless now, that the one good thing he had, his “looks” were now ruined. He was so sure Rosalind was his forever and she was only with him because he was a “hot firefighter”.
He grabbed the tablet, standing up “Never mind, you were right this is stupid, I don’t know why I even bothered” he said bitterly, stalking off to the bunks.
At least no one could see him cry there.
***
“Here’s how this is gonna work, I talk, you type, if you have any questions save them, I’ll answer them during my break, which is in 3 hours 15 minutes, got it?” Evan asked checking his watch.
Evan Rosier was an interesting person in Regulus’ opinion, he was under boss at the operating station, he had tattoos covering his arms and piercings all over his face. He was mean but not in a way that made you feel hurt but in a way that made you feel like you were being teased by a close friend you had known for years. Regulus liked him.
“Got it” he said, taking the seat Evan had pointed at him to take.
An hour or so passed with Regulus watching Evan like a hawk observing everything he did and typing whatever he was told to.
“Well, it's your turn now,” Evan announced, standing and stretching his arms above his head.
Regulus head snapped up from where he was writing in his notebook “Wait what!, I’m not ready, I can’t-”
“See one, do one, teach one. You got this”
He carefully took the seat Evan had occupied moments earlier and reached for the earpiece and took a steadying breath “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“Help, please -can’t -breathe” the raspy voice on the other end of the call said.
“Okay sir, what’s your location?”
“Ocean Park and Lincoln, near hogsmeade diner”
Regulus repeated the information under his breath, quickly typing the information into the computer. He looked at his open notebook on the desk reading it, looking for the cause of this emergency.
“Okay sir, do you have any tightness in your chest or pain in your arms?” he asked, reciting the information he just read.
“N-no, throat swollen”
Looking at his notebook again he asked “Do you have any allergies?”
“Shellfish, I-I told them” came the laboured reply.
“You’re probably having an allergic reaction, help is on the way-” a sound ruffles through the background “-Can you elevate your legs for me sir?” Regulus asked.
Suddenly Evan takes over the call “No! Sir, are you out on the street?”
“Parking lot, in my car”
“Okay what kind of car are we looking for?”
“Grey, -challenger”
“Okay help is on the way sir” Evan finishes, clicking off the call “Can I see that?” he asks pointing to Regulus’ notebook
Regulus hands him the notebook, to which Evan then proceeds to dump it in the trash.
“I-Hey!” he protests, that was his lifeline, a way to help the callers on the other end of the line, he needed that.
As if Evan could read his mind he then says “You don’t need that, you need to pay attention, when the EMTs arrived they would have had no idea where to find him. You were too busy with the checklist, you didn’t hear the sound of the engine running.”.
Regulus nods in understanding.
“The first rule of this job is that everyone lies. Sometimes they know they’re lying ‘Oh I had no idea this would happen! I accidentally slipped and fell on this cucumber” Evan mocks, “Sometimes they don’t even know they’re lying, whatever is happening is scrambling their brains. They are the ultimate unreliable narrator. Try another call.” he finishes.
Regulus nods again, clicking the button to accept another call “9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”
***
Sirius didn’t know why he didn’t trust his instincts more, from the moment he arrived he knew he should’ve called out, should’ve just turned around and gone straight home the moment he arrived.
Today has been awful, and that’s putting it lightly. They’ve had non stop calls, rushing from emergency to emergency. And motherfucking Remus Lupin has the thorn in his side that he’s been all week, whenever Sirius tries to do anything Remus comes in and is immediately better at it.
Everyone around them fucking loves him and the prick doesn’t even seem uncomfortable in this new environment, like a parasite immediately making itself at home in its host. And to top it all off on their last call Lily had gotten called away by a quote “family emergency” and had rushed off, meaning Remus had to take over as paramedic with James.
Don’t get him wrong Sirius loved Harry and Pandora and he hoped they were okay but did Lily really have to leave him with Remus Lupin of all people?
Their last call had been intense, a little boy had gotten injured and had flat lined, leaving Remus to save him as James had set up a triage to help everyone else and was busy.
It had been a great safe, really and Sirius was glad the kid was alright but it was all anyone could talk about, with people repeatedly coming up to Remus and congratulating him. And he didn’t even seem happy about it! No, he seemed more upset than anything.
So really it was inevitable that something between the two would snap, with Sirius having admittedly kind of an asshole to Remus all week and his now sudden bad mood, the two were bound to blow up at each other.
After the stress of the last call James, Remus and Sirius had all taken to working out in the little gym area that they had set up in the fire house. Well James and Sirius had immediately reached for the weights, Remus seemed to be blowing off steam with the punching bag.
Sirius was immediately fascinated, watching the taller man throw punch after punch, sweat glistening on his olive skin, muscles-
“What’s your problem man?!”Remus' voice snapped Sirius out of his trance.
“My- what?” he said still slightly dazed
“Your problem, you keep staring at me, not to mention you’ve been a dick all week”
Sirius, never having been known for his abilities to de-escalate a situation, is immediately on the defensive “My problem? Okay you are my problem! Your comfort level, you’re not supposed to just come in here and immediately be comfortable! Immediately have everyone love you!”
At this point James had stopped whatever he was doing and was now watching the two men intensely, a curious gleam in his eye.
Remus’ eyebrow shoot up, surprised at having received such an honest answer “Look, I in no way meant to come in here and step on anybody's toes. I know you’re going through some personal stuff right now”
“What personal problems?” Sirius asks, confused at the direction the conversation had taken.
“I know your girlfriend recently broke up with you, and you’re still trying to come to terms with that”
At the mention of Mary, Sirius's anger flared. He and Mary hadn’t broken up but their relationship was rocky- at best. It had been at least 3 weeks since they last talked and between this fact and Sirius’s guilt about finding Remus attractive, his anger reached new heights.
“We’re not broken up” he spits, the statement receives a questioning look from James but he doesn’t say anything.
“I’m just saying, I’m sorry you’re going through something right now, but you don’t need to take it out on me. We’re on the same team, there’s no need to be threatened by me”
Sirius drew himself to his full height, which in comparison to Remus was still quite short “And why exactly would I be threatened by you?”
Remus gave him a sultry smile “Exactly, there’s no need to be, we do the same thing. I’ve just done it with people shooting at me”. At that he turned and walked away towards the showers leaving behind an enraged Sirius.
“We’re not broken up!” he shouts, for good measure. He and Mary were fine!
An unsettling silence settled for about 10 seconds before being broken by James' laughter.
“It’s not funny Prongs!”
***
Lily was stressed, and that was an understatement.
She had received a frantic call from Pandora begging her to come home as soon as possible. After consulting Poppy she had rushed off from her shift hours earlier than she was supposed to leaving Remus as her paramedic replacement.
Lily arrived at the small craftsman style home her family inhabited, quickly rushing to the door.
“Pandora? Harry?” she called, removing her shoes.
She heard the sounds of tiny feet running down the hall “Mama!” the little boy called, jumping into her arms.
“Hi baby” she whispered, holding him close.
Pandora rounded the corner, her voice strained “Harry, love why don’t you go to your room for a bit while your Mama and I talk?”
The boy wiggled out of Lily’s arms laughing “Okay Mommy!”
Lily stood up and pulled Pandora into a hug “What’s wrong my love? You scared me”
“It’s Petunia” Pandora whispered, pulling away from Lily and leading her to the dining room.
Lily’s blood ran cold. Petunia was her sister, but more importantly she was also Harry’s biological mother.
For as long as Lily could remember her sister had also been so prim and proper, consistently getting straight A’s and wowing all their Sunday school teachers with her knowledge. She and Petunia had been close growing up until Lily had come out as a Lesbian, something her sister staunchly disapproved of as a ‘righteous woman of god’.
Their parents had always had high expectations for the two girls, of which Petunia had appeared to execed easily. It wasn’t until she was 24 and Lily was 23, that the truth had come out, Petunia was regularly using heroin and had developed an addiction, not only that but she had also fallen pregnant and claimed to not know the father.
Petunia had been arrested for dealing and had given birth while incarcerated, signing away all her parental rights to Lily and Pandora.
As far as Lily knew she was still locked up.
Pandora led her over to the dining room table where a bunch of legal papers were scattered all over it.
“We got served this morning, she’s suing for custody” Pandora whispered brokenly
Lily’s mind blanked, suing for custody of who? Harry? No, of course not Harry was her son and over her dead body would she ever let anyone take him from her.
“I- what? But how? I thought she was still locked up? And she signed away all her parental rights! I don’t understand-”
“She got out a few months ago” Pandora answered “And apparently she’s not suing for her parental rights, she’s suing for Harry’s father.
What? No, that wasn’t right. Petunia had said she didn’t know who Harry’s father was, unless-
“That bitch! I can’t believe she lied about not knowing his father!”
Pandora nodded “I know”.
“What does our lawyer say? We can fight this right? Right? ” Lily finished, desperate. She couldn’t bear the thought of someone taking away their son.
Her wife laughed brokenly “He says we’re fucked. Well he used more lawyerly terms but still”.
Lily sprialed, “I- what no, no, no. We can fight this. I can get Minerva to run a background check on the father, we can- the courts wouldn’t just take him away from his family right? I mean he’s only four!”
“I don’t know”.
Lily laughed humorlessly, feeling on the edge of hysteria “Who even is Harry’s father anyways?”
“Some guy named Vernon Dursley”.
***
The 118 had been called out to an emergency that had seemed simple enough at first.
Some war junkie had bought what appeared to be an inactive practice grenade, while cleaning it he had accidentally set it off and it had embedded itself in his leg.
Simple, this had happened a thousand times before. People bought an explosive that had appeared to be inactive, weren’t careful with it and accidentally set it off.
The man’s femoral artery had been cut so they were on a time crunch to get him to the hospital, something that seemed to be easy enough.
James and Remus had just finished loading the man into the back of the ambulance when Poppy had said-
“Sirius you go with Remus, make sure he stays stable”
“I- Cap!” Sirius had whined not being thrilled with the idea of being stuck in the back of an ambulance with a man he disliked.
“It’s one team Sirius, you gotta learn to be nice”
James chuckled “It’ll be alright Padfoot”
“Will it?” Sirius asked, dreading the next 15 minutes.
“Uhh Cap we got a problem” Remus voice announced, before either Poppy or James could respond. “Practice rounds have blue caps, live ones have gold, he’s got a live round embedded in his leg!”
Sirius was confused “Wait? I thought this thing had already gone off?”
“The launch grenade has two components; gunpowder which makes it travel and an explosive charge that makes it go boom”
“Okay, so why didn’t this thing go ‘boom’?” James asked, probably just as confused as Sirius.
Remus continued, “It’s fitted with a proximity fuse, a little device that tells the cap it’s travelled a safe enough distance from the shooter to explode. His hand to his leg probably wasn’t far enough.”.
“Well we can’t bring him inside a hospital full of people, so what are our options here?” Poppy asked.
“We called the military for help” answered the man next to Poppy, wearing a jacket that indicated he was a part of the bomb squad.
“Wait, the military? Can’t you do it?” Sirius questioned.
The man sighed “You can’t defuse a grenade, we need someone who knows how to pull that thing out of him, they’re sending someone over, he should be here within an hour”.
James shakes his head “He doesn’t have an hour!”
“I can do it” said Remus, ignoring the stares of the people around him, looking only at Poppy. “If he doesn’t go into surgery soon, he’ll die”.
“Have you done this before?” she questions, carefully.
“Well none of the guys I served with were dumb enough to shoot a live round into their leg, but I’m familiar with the ordnance”
Before Sirius can second guess himself he says “I’m in”
Poppy gives him a questioning look “You sure?”.
“One team cap, like you said”
She gives him a small smile “Okay then let’s do this”
Sirius and Remus were protective vests to wear and a box to put the grenade in once it was retrieved.
Remus hops up into the ambulance but before he can James stops him.
“Are you sure about this, Pads?”
Sirius nods “You and Cap said we need to bond, besides if things go to shit we might end up real close”.
James scans his face for a moment before nodding and moving out of the way, allowing him to hop up into the vehicle too.
“How are you feeling there Horace?” asks Remus, setting out a couple of supplies.
“Like a world class idiot, my wife if she were still alive would be saying ‘I told you so’. Though she might be able to tell me in person in a few minutes” the man- Horace- says grimacing.
“Well that conversation is going to have to wait, no one is going anywhere tonight” Sirius says comforting him.
Remus adjusts the IV connected to the man “What branch did you say you served in Horace?”
“I didn't, tried to enlist during ‘Nam but I was 4f, enlarged heart. So I became a science teacher instead.”
“Well not all heroes serve on the battlefield” replies Remus, while nodding at a Sirius “Hold here” here asks.
Sirius, trying not to gag, holds open the wound on the man's leg as Remus reaches in with the tongs.
“Come on, you got this” Sirius says encouragingly as the other man struggles to pull out the cap.
“Box” Remus asks as he finally manages to free the explosive. “Steady” he says as he places it inside the box.
Remus and Sirius share a heavy look before Remus turns around and pounds on the ambulance door, announcing their finish.
15 minutes later Horace has been transported to the hospital with the 118 still waiting on the bombsquad to figure out what to do with the explosive so they can reclaim their ambulance.
Sirius was off standing to the side all the chaos around him trying to remove his gear when Remus approaches him.
“You’re good under pressure, man” he says a bit awkwardly.
Sirius' chest warms at the complement “Me?” he asks a bit stupidly, head not working properly.
“Hell yeah, you can my back any day”
Sirius smiles, blushing slightly, “ Or- You know, you could have mine?”
Remus laughs “Deal” he faltered for a moment before adding “Moony, you can call me Moony”
Sirius blinked, confused.
“It was my old military nickname, you said everyone at the 118 has a nickname, so you can call me Moony”
Sirius' smile grows impossible wider “Welcome to the team Moony”
***
James was in the middle of playing ‘Go fish’ Remus and Sirius when Poppy walked in claiming she had an announcement.
“-Prongs I know you’re cheating!” Sirius yelled.
“I- what no I’m not!” he protested, he took the integrity of Go fish very seriously.
Remus and Lily exchanged exasperated glances, trying to hold back laughter knowing it would only encourage the two men.
“Boys, boys settle down, I have some exciting news, the calendar board has made their decision on who will represent the 118” said Poppy as she entered the room interrupting the argument that had broken out over the rules of Go fish.
“Well no hard feelings no matter who wins, right Moony?”. Remus nods.
Poppy smiles, “I'm glad to hear you say that Sirius cause they didn't pick you”.
Sirius' smile doesn't falter however, he just turns to Remus saying “Ah, well congratulations-”
“They didn't pick him either” Poppy interrupts, turning to look at James who had been staring down at his feet.
“I- what me? But I didn't send anything in!”. She gives him a knowing smile shrugging
“Congratulations Mr.May!”
“That's awesome Prongs congrats!”
“Great job man”
James turns to look a Lily, who’s looking at him echoing Poppy's knowing smirk.
“You sent those photos in?”
She shakes her head “I don't send those posed for photos in. You remember the bus crash on the highway we dealt with last month?”.
He nods.
“A photographer got a photo of you carrying a little girl across the highway to safety. I didn't send in a photo of you pretending to be a big bad hero like you had to for Rosalind, I sent in a photo of you being a real hero.”
James gapes at her for a moment before enveloping the red head's smaller frame with his own larger one.
“Thank you” he breathes, overwhelmed by it all.
He pulled back beaming, he didn't need to pretend to be anything, because he was already one of the most important things in the world.
Himself.
***
It had been a normal day for Minerva McGonagall. She had gotten up, made breakfast, kissed her wife goodbye and left for work.
She had been on her daily beat driving along the highway when all of a sudden the car before her disappeared and the road in front of her gave way and the earth began to shake.