Work Text:
“We are going to be late,” Lily chided through the door, doing her best not to seem too uptight. Harry had decided to wait until the last second to pack his trunk for Hogwarts.
“I’m almost done, Mum,” Harry said back, in no way sharing his mother’s worry. Lily took a deep breath and joined her husband in the sitting room.
“He’s definitely your son, J,” she joked, pointedly looking over at James. The man in question just laughed along with a shrug.
“We do have plenty of time, though,” James said, sparing a glance at the clock. “It’s only half-ten.”
“I’ll remind you that there could be quite the line out the fireplace at the platform,” Lily pointed out. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait much longer. Harry was tumbling into the room with his hovering father in tow.
“Papa, please would you stop trying to fix my hair!” Harry begged, swatting Regulus’ hands away.
“Oh fine,” he relented. “It’s just a big day, is all. Are we ready? The others are probably there.”
Regulus made a show about taking his watch from his pocket to check it.
“Not the Weasleys,” Harry and Lily said at the same time. Fair.
As the Potters four headed one by one through the fireplace, Lily found herself double and triple checking her handbag for tissues. She and James had always been the criers of the family—wiping tears away at the smallest of milestones.
Last on the platform, Lily barely saw Harry make a run towards Neville and Dean.
“How in the world do we have children old enough to go off to Hogwarts?” asked Mary, appearing at Lily’s side and throwing an arm around her. “Dean was practically doing jumping jacks on our bed to wake us up this morning, he was so excited.”
“Oh, I’m sure you and Peter loved that,” Lily laughed. She and Mary walked over to join their husbands, who had already started to form their own huddled group on the platform. “We are so old now—parents at the train station!”
“What about Moony over here, joining the faculty!” Peter teased, clapping his much-taller friend on the back.
This was the first year Remus would be joining the staff as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Lily was thrilled for her friend, since he was clearly the best person for the job.
“How’s the cubicle treating you, eh Wormtail?” Remus fired back without hesitation. The friends continued to poke fun back and forth for a while as the platform continued to fill up with students and parents.
Once the Weasleys arrived, Molly made her rounds to greet the group while Ron ran to join the other boys at a compartment door.
“Look at the Junior Marauders over there,” Sirius mused, a hand over his heart. “Maybe they’ll wreak as much havoc as we once did.”
“How fun that would be for me,” Remus said. “Their teacher.”
“Harry, come here!” Lily said, in between her normal decibel and a shout. The young boy obeyed as Regulus and James both also made their way over to Lily. “You’re going to be good this year, aren’t you?”
“You know me.” Harry’s mischievous grin hid none of his intentions. Lily just smiled and shook her head. As she looked at her eleven-year-old, she realized that he would be okay without her. It felt like for the first time, she was looking at the beginnings of a young man, and not the continuation of her once cuddly baby. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling. After she had nearly squeezed the life out of the boy, he moved on to hug James.
“Make sure to give your Uncle Moony a hard time,” James teased as he pulled away.
When Harry made to hug his third parent, Regulus’ stoic expression gave nothing away.
“You’d better write home at least once a week,” he said. “Though, I expect we’ll write you every day.”
“That’s why I’ve got Hedwig, after all,” Harry said, gesturing toward the train where he had already stowed his trunk and his caged owl.
Each parent pulled Harry in for one more parting hug, as well as said their goodbyes to the other boys and to Remus, before they had to finally get on the train. Lily handed some tissues James’ way, who accepted them with gratitude. The three remaining Potters waved until Harry was long gone from view. Lily put an arm around each of her husbands. When she looked over at Regulus, she was surprised at the sight.
“Reg, are you crying?” she asked, mouth agape. Of the three parents Potter, there was one who cried next to never. Unlike Lily and James, who could expect water works at any moment, Regulus was perpetually dry of tears. Now, though, the man had an evident stream running down his cheek. Lily and James went to huddle by Regulus, who still hadn’t spoken. Lily lifted a tissue to his face and wiped the tears away. “This’ll be good for him.”
“It’s just so strange. Practically yesterday, he was starting primary school,” said Regulus with a shake of his head.
“We should head for a drink,” Sirius suggested to his school friends, who all nodded or mumbled affirmative and went one by one through the fireplace.