The Granger Way (Harry Potter fanfic)

You Rock My World

"Rock."

"Rock?" Regulus looked up from his book. He sat under the sun umbrella on the beach so that his pale skin might not burn in the hot sun while the rest of his family played in the sand. Olivia waved at him from on the beach, her skin tanning ever so slightly while her skin rarely burned. His oldest daughter was blessed with the same luck, while the younger two needed to be more cautious regarding how much sun they got.

Elizabeth sat at the side, putting on more sunscreen, ignoring the rest of the world, towel dripped over her shoulders, and navvy blue one-piece swimsuit she 'd insisted was all the rage fashion-wise. However, Regulus didn't pay much attention to such things. On the other hand, his youngest was starting to burn a little on the nose and cheeks, though she wasn't as red as the red polka dots on her swimsuit. She held out her hand. "Pretty rock."

"Is that for me?" Regulus asked. She nodded her head, her black pigtails bobbing in time with her head. He reached out and took the rock from the almost three-year-old, not caring as he suspected his parents would have reacted had he done the same growing up. The rock slipped into his hand, and, "Oh!"

"Oh?" His youngest tilted her head quizzically, her excitement growing.

Regulus slipped a bookmark into the pages of his book as Elizabeth let a sigh, wearing her mother 's sunglasses and her grandmother's colossal straw hat. He'd made the mistake of asking if she was wearing it so her scalp wouldn't burn, and she retorted with, "No! It's fashionable. Tiny fingers reached out, poking his hand, asking what the quizzical remark was about as he set the book down. "So, this isn't a rock."

"It isn't?"

"No. This is a shell," Regulus said, letting his thumb trace the shell. "It's still very pretty."

"Pretty hell!" She said, a huge grin spreading across her face.

Elizabeth 's head darted up, looking at her younger sister before looking at their mother, who was tossing a blow-up ball back and forth with their eldest. "Mom! Jules used a bad word!"

"Hell! Hell!" Jules said, her mouth pushing together.

"Yes. Shell is not a bad word. It starts with a...." Regulus held his finger to his mouth. "And then an ell."

"Shh-ell. Shh-ell. Shell! Shell, shell, shell!" Jules said, looking rather triumphant over her achievement as any two to three-year-old would. She then turned and looked right at Elizabeth, who continued to ask their mother to do something about Jules saying a bad word. Jules took a deep breath and then as loudly as she could so everyone on the beach could hear her. "Hell! Hell! Hell of a shell! Hell of a shell! Hell!"

Regulus ' eyes widened as Elizabeth's jaw dropped. Olivia didn't pass the blow-up ball to Hermione correctly, who hurried after it, coming back to stare at Jules as if she'd grown another head. Jules looked at him, her big eyes expecting him to praise her for getting it right. His mouth twisted, and, "Yes, Jules. It's a hell of a shell."

"Mom! Daddy's encouraging Jules to say bad words!" Elizabeth said, complexly mortified, and—

Regulus suddenly couldn 't stop laughing, the thought of the mortified look on Walburga Black's face if she could only see Jules dancing around singing her new hell of a shell song, but as he laughed, Elizabeth grew even more mortified.

"Mommy! Do something!"

"Rabbit,"

"I'm sorry. I just..." He held his side. "It gives me stitches."

"Has you in stitches," Olivia corrected his use of Muggle idioms. Hermione handed her the ball, and she walked over. He half expected a lecture, which was funny in his head, given he imagined how Walburga Black would react. She instead tossed the ball at Elizabeth. "Go play with Hermione. Jules, you too!"

Jules turned and hurried away while Elizabeth let out a sound of disgust, all the while, Jules sang her hell of a shell song. Regulus couldn 't stop laughing.

"So?"

"I was just thinking how mortified my mother would have been," Regulus muttered. "Had I tried something like that—done something like that...."

"Are you okay thinking about that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I'm glad my kids—our kids, don't have to grow up around that." He looked at the shell. "And I'm allowed to enjoy these, these little gifts of love. I kind of feel bad for them, missing out on this kind of thing."

...

"Rock."

Orion forgot the object he kept hidden in his drawer so that Walburga might not throw it out. " Please use full sentences, Regulus. "

"It's a rock."

She 'd throw it out if she thought the object might cause him to have another heart attack. " I can see it is a rock. "

He remembered how Regulus looked at him, his two to three-year-old mouth pushed together in frustration as if his father wasn 't getting it. " What kind of rock is it? "

He 'd blinked then, taking the rock from his son's hand. It was different from the other rocks in Arcturus' garden. He was also stumped, but Regulus always had a way of confusing him. " I don 't know. "

"You don't know," Regulus' eyes squinted, the fact his father didn't have an answer irritating the toddler who was too smart for his britches at times.

"How about I find out?" He never did find out, as he thought Regulus lost interest in said rock, but then again, Regulus had always been good at keeping to himself. Orion slid the drawer shut. "No use for maybes or should-haves." He heard the door open and looked up at Walburga.

"What's this about maybes, or should have?" She said. She then sighed. "Please tell me you're not...."

"I'm fine."

"Orion."

"Father will tell you that I'm fine. Never better. And, it was a good memory. So please, don't take it away." He watched his wife standing there, her eyes blinking, but then she backed down. She didn't want that to happen again, his heart giving out as it had. The door closed. He eyed the drawer of his desk before deciding he would take tea. "I wish I'd said it. That I loved him."