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It was evening, James and Sirius were setting the table. There was a big storm incoming. The rain was falling down hard and soon thunder and lightning would begin roaring through the sky.

They had a nice dinner with James’ parents. After dinner James went to clean things up with his mum as Sirius went upstairs to write a letter to Remus. When they were putting away the last of the dishes James noticed his mum was getting tired.

‘’You can just go to sleep mum. I’ll take care of the rest.’’ James said.

‘’Alright dear, goodnight.’’ Euphemia kissed the top of James’ head and went to the living room. James heard his parents talk softly and walk upstairs to their room.

James was getting tired too so he decided to turn in early for the night. He finished putting away the last plates and turned off all the downstairs lights. As he walked upstairs he heard the sounds of thunder and lightning getting louder and more frequent.

When he was in his bed he could barely get to sleep. He thought of Regulus who was in that house scared and alone kept him up. Regulus had told James he was scared of thunder storms, he hates the noise. James just wishes he could go there and hold him. Then he thought of Barty, all alone in that house. His father probably hasn’t even come home yet.

Barty had told them that sometimes he still made dinner for two, hoping his father would come home and appreciate Barty’s effort. Maybe his father would open up about his mum and he could hear stories of when she was young. But that never happened. So Barty was alone in a big empty house.

James was thinking of ways to sneak out to Barty without putting either of them in danger but it was near impossible. And Barty had asked for James not to visit him, and recently also asked him to stop sending letters. James couldn’t sleep either way so he got up to write a letter to Barty, he wanted to ask him how he’s doing and tell him about his days and how he misses him. He knows he can’t send it but he goes to write it all down anyway. Just as he grabbed the parchment, the ink and his quill he heard a frantic knocking on the door.

Before James could react and put a shirt on he heard someone walking down the stairs. It had to be Sirius since his parents’ room was on the other side at the end of the long hallway.

He quickly put on a shirt and went downstairs.

‘’Pads? Who is it?’’ James asked.

‘’Reggie.’’ He heard Sirius say as if the breath was knocked out of him out of shock.

‘’Regulus?’’ James asked worried. He walked further down and there he saw him. All soaked through with blood running from his lip and a bruise on his cheek. James noticed Regulus was still standing outside in the storm, Sirius still too in shock to let him in. ‘’Pads, invite him in.’’ James hurried Sirius out of his shock.

‘’oh, right, sorry. Come in.’’ Sirius said. Regulus walked inside and as soon as Sirius closed the door he fell into Sirius’ arms. He was shaking with sobs as he held onto Sirius tightly. Sirius carefully wrapped his arms around Regulus and held him close.

James went upstairs to get his wand. After living with the marauders he knew enough healing spells to help. When he came back downstairs he found the brothers sitting in the living room on the brown sofa. Sirius had grabbed the softest blanket and wrapped it around Regulus. The sobs had now gone and Regulus was only softly crying. They were quietly whispering with each other.

‘’Where are you hurt?’’ James asked, keeping his voice quiet. That’s when Regulus looked up and seemed to remember James was there. He immediately got up and ran into James’ arms. Regulus started crying again and buried his face in James’ chest. ‘’It’s okay, You’re okay. You’re safe now.’’ James whispered as he petted Regulus’ hair. It was short now. It felt like it was cut off with a dull knife, messy and choppy pieces like he was in a hurry.

Regulus hadn’t been unable to cut his hair while still living with his family. It was too dangerous for him to come out. So every time Regulus was at school he would put a glamour on it that lasted a day, so it would look short. James had given Regulus his old binders and charmed them to fit Regulus perfectly. He was supposed to only wear them at school and hide them at home but James could feel Regulus was wearing one.

‘’It just- It was a bad day. I had to wear it and when mother saw- she was so angry. I should have hid but I took the knife from the table and started cutting off my hair. She hit me and I just, I just ran.’’ Regulus whispered. Just loud enough so Sirius could hear it too.

‘’I’m so sorry Reggie. I-I should have gotten you out. I was too scared but I just left you all alone there. I should have taken you with me.’’ Sirius said.

‘’No, Sirius I wouldn’t have gone with you back then. I don’t hate you for leaving me. You had to get out and I wasn’t ready to go yet. Don’t blame yourself, please.’’ Regulus went over to hug Sirius again.

‘’Are you only hurt on your face or are there any other injuries?’’ Sirius asked.

‘’I think she broke a rib with a curse she shot after me.’’ Regulus said.

‘’I’m going to heal your face first, but you will have to take off your shirt and binder for me to heal your ribs. I can leave if you want and let Sirius do it or Sirius could leave. But we do have to heal it.’’ James said sitting in front of Regulus.

‘’no, It’s okay. You can both stay. Just… don’t stare.’’ Regulus said.

‘’I promise I won’t.’’ James said quietly. Then he began to heal the bruise on Regulus’ cheek and his split lip. Regulus took off his jumper and shirt. Then finally with a deep breath he took off his binder with a wince. James could immediately see the bruises on his ribs. He pointed his wand for a diagnostic spell and then healed his ribs. Regulus quickly put his jumper back on.

‘’So where do you want to sleep? We have an extra room but you can also sleep with Sirius if you want.’’ James asked.

Regulus looked a bit nervous but then asked, ‘’Can I sleep with you?’’

‘’Wait what?’’ Sirius almost yelled, just having processed what Regulus said. Completely forgetting why Regulus is even here. The surprise startling him out of his sad and tired mood.

‘’Calm down Sirius. We aren’t going to do anything weird, just sleep. I’m not into that stuff anyway.’’ Regulus said.

‘’I have ignored it until now but, since when do you know each other. And how close are you?’’

‘’We have dated almost the entirety of last school year.’’ Regulus responded. ‘’We’re boyfriends.’’

‘’Why?’’ Sirius asked.

‘’Because we love each other.’’ James said.

‘’got a problem with that?’’ Regulus asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

‘’No, just have to get used to it I think.’’ Sirius said hesitantly.

~ - ⋆- ~

After some more talking they finally went to bed. Sirius went to his own room to finish writing his letter and go to sleep.

James gave Regulus a change of clothes and waited for him to shower. A little while after James heard the water go off, Regulus walked through the door in one of James’ biggest sweaters and plaid pajama pants.

‘’You okay?’’ James asked, reaching out to pull Regulus into a hug. Regulus walked over and fell into James’ embrace.

‘’I don’t know.’’ Regulus mumbled into James’ chest. James just held him tighter. ‘’Have you heard anything from Barty?’’ Regulus looked up at James.

‘’Not much, he says his dad has barely been home and when he was, he wasn’t even looking at him. I just wish he would come here too.’’

‘’Maybe we can convince him this year, if I can do it he can do it too. And otherwise we can find a flat at the end of school.’’

‘’I guess so. I just feel awful that he isn’t getting the love and attention he deserves.’’ James said quietly. ‘’He even told me not to send him letters anymore.’’ James felt a tear rolling down his cheek.

‘’It will all be alright Jamie. We will see him soon on our way to Hogwarts.’’ Regulus wiped the tear away and kissed his cheek.

Then there was a knock on the window, James assumed it might have been a stick or a bird that hit the window. He went to check what it was and walked over to pull the curtain aside. Then there were another couple of knocks and now James was confused, was this an owl? In the storm? He felt a bit of hope, thinking maybe Barty finally was able to send a letter anyway. But and owl sounded different, this was something else.

James pulled the curtain aside to find Barty in front of the window with a smile on his face but red puffy eyes. James quickly opened his window to let Barty in. Barty threw in a bag first before climbing through the window.

‘’Good evening.’’ Barty smiled, looking around the room. ‘’Reggie! What are you doing here?’’

‘’I escaped home. What are you doing here?’’ Regulus asked with a confused frown.

‘’Might have been kicked out.’’ Barty said proudly.

‘’Wait what? How can your father even kick you out if he is never there!?’’ James asked while grabbing dry clothes for Barty. Wincing slightly after hearing his own insensitive comment.

‘’He finally decided to show up and when I asked for a bit of attention we got into an argument. Curses were thrown and words were yelled. I told him I wasn’t going to marry a girl and finally behave, that I like men. So he threw some curses and told me to leave and never come back.’’ Barty still had a smile on his face, trying to joke about it but James could see the sadness in his eyes and knew that Regulus saw it too.

Despite the act he puts up about hating his father and not caring about anything he says, they all know there is still some part of him that wished for his father’s love and approval. They knew that sometimes Barty still held out a bit of hope that he could bond with his father and remember his mother with him. Hearing stories of her that he had never heard before.

‘’We might have to make the bed a bit larger but you can stay here. I’m sure my parents will be alright with it.’’ James said handing Barty a towel and some dry clothes.

‘’Thanks Darling,’’ Barty kissed James on his head. ‘’I was going to knock on the front door but I didn’t want to wake anyone up and I saw Sirius sitting in the other room so I guessed this was yours. Would have been a bit awkward if it was you parents’ room.’’ Barty laughed.

‘’Do you have any injuries we need to heal?’’ James asked. Looking Barty over.

‘’I don’t think so, I feel fine. Most of fathers spells missed.’’

‘’Okay. You can shower if you want to. It’s right across from my room.’’ James said.

‘’I’m fine I just want to stay with you guys for now. I’ll let your cuddles warm me up.’’ Barty smiled. He started taking off his clothes and drying himself off. James and Regulus looked with flushed faces.

When Barty finally had his dry clothes on they all went to bed.

‘’Goodnight loves.’’ James whispered.

‘’Goodnight.’’ They both said back.

~ - ⋆ - ~

In the morning James woke up to a knocking on the door and Sirius’ voice. ‘’Oi! Are you decent?’’

‘’No!’’ Barty laughed. That’s when James realized Barty and Regulus were also woken up.

‘’Wait, who is that!? That doesn’t sound like Reggie or you James.’’ Sirius yelled through the door.

‘’Uhm….’’ James thought hard about how to explain this one to Sirius.

‘’Okay that’s it, I’m coming in!’’ Sirius opened the door and looked around until his eyes settled on the bed. With not two, but three people. ‘’What the fuck.’’

‘’Well good morning to you too Black.’’ Barty said while Regulus just rolled his eyes and cuddled in closer to James. While Barty sat up a bit more on the other side of James, looking straight at Sirius with a mischievous look in his eyes that scared James this early in the morning.

‘’James… Why is Barty Crouch Jr. in your bed?’’ Sirius said looking from James to Barty.

‘’He got here last night,’’ James looked over at Barty a silent conversation happening. ‘’He got kicked out.’’ James finished.

‘’Okay, but that doesn’t explain why he is cuddled up to you in your bed.’’ Sirius said, dramatically waving his arms in the air.

‘’He is my boyfriend you idiot.’’ Barty seemed done with Sirius’ questioning and just wanted to go back to cuddling his boyfriends.

‘’Wait, what? James is this true? And what about Reg?’’ Sirius turned back to James.

‘’Yes it’s true. And we are all boyfriends. Now fuck off I want to sleep.’’ Regulus mumbled from James’ shoulder.

‘’Fine. But you can explain all this later.’’ Sirius sent a pointed look at James and walked out of the room, definitely shutting the door harder than necessary.

‘’That went well.’’ Barty smiled like the chaotic little shit he is.

~ - ⋆ - ~

Once they finally got out of bed for breakfast, the table was already set and James’ parents were downstairs. James hoped Sirius hadn’t told them everything yet. He would be too dramatic about it. So when James came downstairs with his boys behind him, he carefully walked into the dining room.

‘’Mum? Dad?’’ James asked, coming into the room alone at first.

‘’Yes dear?’’ Effie looked up from her book. ‘’What’s going on?’’ She asked worriedly after seeing James’ expression.

‘’We may have had a couple of new guests arrive last night.’’ James said, stepping aside to let Regulus and Barty in.

‘’Hi Mrs. Potter.’’ Barty said and Regulus just gave a small wave. They both looked to the floor a bit nervously.

‘’I’m assuming you’re Regulus and Barty?’’ Effie asked with a small smile. Regulus and Barty nodded. ‘’What happened?’’ She now turned to James again.

James looked at Regulus and Barty waiting on confirmation that he can tell them. They both gave a small nod and James went to explain.

‘’Regulus ran away, it was too dangerous. He arrived last night a little bit after you and dad went to sleep. He had some injuries but we healed them. Barty got kicked out. He is uninjured. They both have nowhere to go. So if you are okay with it, can they stay here please? Until we finish school and find somewhere else to live.’’ James explained.

‘’Of course they can stay here. Your friends are always welcome here James, even for a bit longer than usual.’’ Effie said.

‘’They’re my boyfriends actually.’’ James said, blushing slightly.

‘’Oh, well that’s alright too. We have some empty rooms you can choose. You can always sleep in James’ room but sometimes it’s nice to have your own space.’’ Effie smiled at the two boys.

‘’Thank you Mrs. Potter.’’ Regulus said. Barty gave a small nod. They were both smiling slightly, feeling surprised but happy about the warm welcome and acceptance.

‘’Now come sit. Breakfast is ready.’’ Effie said.

They all went to sit down at the dining table and had breakfast. James could still see that Regulus and Barty were nervous, but his mum telling them it was alright did help.

After breakfast they went back upstairs and talked a bit. They played some games and cuddled up while Regulus read a book. Hogwarts would start again in a couple of days but they made the most of it to be home.

Finally home together.