Chapter Text
Regulus half expected his parents to change their mind about letting him spend the weekend at the Scamanders’ (still wasn’t sure why they’d ever agreed to this) until Friday morning when he and Sirius stood in the drawing room in front of the fireplace with weekend bags packed at their feet. Their mother gave them a lecture about not embarrassing the family, or doing anything to disgrace the family name, and then sent them off.
Sirius went to James Potter’s house, and then it was Regulus’s turn.
He didn’t fully anticipate to end up in the Scamanders’ living room, even as he gave the direction of ‘Scamander Residence, Dorset!’ – but then he came out of the fireplace to see Max and Isaac sitting on the sofa, playing Wizards’ Chess.
Regulus barely had time to get his bearings before Max had him in a tight hug. “You’re here!”
“Let him breathe, Max,” Isaac said from his spot on the couch.
Max reluctantly let go of him, and frowned, turning to Isaac. “You know as well as I do that Regulus is desperately under-hugged. Besides, I haven’t seen him in a whole two weeks.”
“It’s fine,” Regulus said to Isaac. “It’s Max.”
“At least someone loves me,” Max said, taking Regulus by the hand and leading him back to the sofa.
“Course I do,” Regulus managed. It was true, after all.
If it were humanly possible for someone’s face to split apart with a grin, Regulus was certain that Max’s would have done so in the moment. “Oh my god , Reg, are you actually… expressing your feelings?”
“Don’t tell my mother,” he deadpanned. “She’ll be terribly disappointed.”
Max hugged him again. “This weekend is going to be great! We’ve got hours before we have to be at shul, so what do you want to do? Chess is sort of a two-player game, but we can go to the seaside, or try to cook something, or see if my dad needs help with anything…”
They’d decided, in the end, to go to the seaside. Regulus felt foolish admitting that he hadn’t packed swim trunks, but Max assured him that it was no trouble letting him borrow a pair of his. So they went – it wasn’t a very long walk, all things considered, and the day wasn’t too warm that the walk was uncomfortable.
Max talked the entire time there, and Regulus was struck by how much he’d missed him. It had only been two weeks, and he’d had Sirius, of course, and he’d even gone out for ice cream with Isaac once, but it wasn’t the same as spending all day with Max.
“I’ve always liked going to the seaside,” Max was saying. “It’s one of the things I miss while at Hogwarts.”
Regulus couldn’t honestly say he missed anything about home while at Hogwarts. Kreacher, maybe, but even then… he really didn’t think about Kreacher too much while at school.
“The seaside, Mum and Dad’s cooking, the Kneazles – course, I love Thalia, too, but there’s something to laying on the sofa to read a book and having four Kneazles come to lay on you. And I miss Mum and Dad and Jacob and Shira and Gina. But – when I’m home , I miss Ravenclaw tower and both of you , and House Elves cleaning up my room…”
“I’m surprised the House Elves weren’t number one,” Isaac said.
“I don’t mind if my room’s a little messy,” Max said. “I do mind that my two best friends live in London and almost never get to see me over the summer.”
“Is that it, over there?” Regulus asked, grateful for the distraction. He didn’t want to think about how miserable Grimmauld Place was when he was here with Max and Isaac. He’d have plenty of time to soak in the misery of his home life when his friends weren’t right next to him.
“Yes, perfect!” Max said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going swimming!”
“I can’t swim,” Regulus said.
Max looked at him as if he had two heads. “You can’t swim?”
Regulus shrugged. “I’ve lived in London my whole life, so there’s never been any point.”
“I’m teaching you,” Max said. He looked to Isaac. “That’s a mitzvah, right?”
Isaac shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe?”
“Good enough!” Max grabbed Regulus by the hand and dragged him down to the water, leaving their towels and blanket by Isaac’s feet.
“Make sure the water’s calm, first!” Isaac called after them.
“Thanks, Mum!”
Regulus didn’t have to look back to know that Isaac was scowling and likely grumbling to himself.
“Honestly,” Max whispered as they approached the water. “He’s acts like he’s our mum, and he’s so serious all the time. But okay… so the water’s all really calm over here, so we can just wade in.”
Max held him tight by the hand, but Regulus still felt nervous as they waded in to their waists. He’d never felt comfortable around water. Max seemed to catch onto this, because he smiled at him. “Trust me. You’ll be fine. I won’t let go of you until you tell me to.”
His words were reassuring, and Regulus felt some of his tension slip away. “Okay.”
“We shouldn’t go much farther out at first,” Max said. “Just to be safe.” He took Regulus’s other hand in his. “Okay, so first we’re going to try floating, and I’m going to be holding on to you. Let me know if you want to stop, yeah?”
Regulus nodded. “Yeah.”
They made it back to the Scamander home a good hour before sunset. Mrs. Scamander took one look at them and shook her head. “I suppose there’s nothing we can do about your hair before Shabbos…” She reached out to touch Max’s hair, which had dried absolutely wild and messy. “You’re getting a shower after services.”
“Mum,” Max whined. “But my friends are here!”
“I’m not having you go up tomorrow morning looking like that. Now upstairs and go get changed.”
Max huffed. “Fine.”
Regulus, for his part, couldn’t imagine acting in such a way in front of his own parents, but then… he’d already known that the Scamanders were different from the Blacks. “Should we, er…”
Mrs. Scamander smiled at him. “Yes, best go get dressed. It is a Wizarding synagogue, but it’s not too formal. I’m sure Max can loan you something if all you’ve packed are formal dress robes.”
Regulus thought of the robes he’d packed. “That… might be a good idea.”
“I don’t think the Blacks do casual,” Max said. He grabbed Regulus’s hand, and started dragging him up the stairs. “Come on, I’ve got just the thing!”
“I’ll just stay here, then!” Isaac called.
The robes Max had lent Regulus actually seemed to fit perfectly. They weren’t custom tailored for him, of course, and they were from Madame Malkin’s and not Twillfit and Tattings, but that considered… they fit very well.
Isaac had already deposited his things in the guest room, so Max shut the door behind them and went to his wardrobe. “This is what I’m wearing tomorrow,” he said, indicating a set of dark blue robes. “But let me see…”
Regulus noticed how freckled Max’s back was. It wasn’t often that he saw Max undressed, and while he was still wearing nothing but swimming trunks… Regulus realised that he was staring. He sat down on Max’s bed. “I’m sure anything will be fine. I’ll already stand out.”
“So will Isaac,” Max said. “We don’t use much Hebrew, and our prayers are a lot shorter, so he’ll be more than a little lost.” He seemed to find a set of robes he thought would work, because he tossed them to Regulus (who only just managed to catch them) before shucking off his swim trunks and putting on pants and robes.
Regulus changed into the robes Max had loaned him. They were a light blue, and just the right length.
“How do I look?” Max asked. “Because the rabbi’s gonna talk about my Bar Mitzvah, and I can’t look too bad – Mum is right about that.”
Regulus looked Max over. His hair was still a complete mess, but the robes (a deep purple) suited him, and Regulus wasn’t sure why, but his throat suddenly felt tight. “You look great,” he managed.
Max grinned. “Brilliant! Now… we probably should go downstairs.” He took Regulus by the hand and led him back down to the living room.
If Regulus were honest, he had absolutely no idea what to expect at the synagogue. He knew he didn’t really have to go for the Friday night service – certainly neither the Scamanders nor Isaac would begrudge him if he elected to stay in the guest room with a book – but he had to admit that he was curious.
“My parents and I have got to go up,” Max said to Regulus and Isaac (although Regulus felt it was mostly for his sake), “but you two can sit together.”
“Sure,” Isaac said. He turned to Regulus. “It’s probably best if we sit toward the back.”
Regulus followed him and sat down next to him. He felt awkward and out of place, but at least Isaac was there with him. Even if he was fairly certain Max had been exaggerating about Isaac being just as lost as he’d be.
Isaac handed him a relatively thin book. “It’s read right to left,” he said. “But Max is right – I’ll be a bit lost, too. This is almost all in English.” He flipped through the book, stopping to look at certain pages. “It looks like everything that isn’t in English is transliterated. But you haven’t got to – read anything. Some of the prayers you shouldn’t say, actually, since you’re not Jewish. But it might help to be able to follow along.”
“Thanks,” Regulus said.
“No wonder Max wasn’t concerned about his bar mitzvah, really,” Isaac said. “Everything’s in English.”