𝕋𝕠 ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕋𝕠 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕕 [ʙᴏᴏᴋ 3]

࿔ Danica ࿔

"Reg!" Danica squeals as he playfully flicks her with paint.

They are decorating the nursery, sheets laid out over the wooden floorboards, paint rollers and paint brushes scattered about with trays of grey paint lying near their feet. Danica wears dungarees and an oversized shirt beneath, now splattered with grey. She reaches out a hand and gives Regulus a long stroke of paint down his cheek.

"Oi!" He says and bats her hand away.

"You asked for it," Danica says, giggling.

She has ten weeks left. Her stomach is huge. Huge doesn't really describe it though, she can't bend down easily, she can't stand up easily, and it feels like her children already have something against her when they kick.

"I can't wait to put the cribs in here," Regulus says.

"You're gonna have to build them," Danica looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "And I want to watch you do it without magic."

Regulus shakes his head.

"Why can't I use magic?"

"Because it will be funnier and I want you to see what it's like to be a muggle," Danica walks over to him having finished painting her designated wall. She puts her brush down and then wraps her arms around Regulus's waist.

"I'll get Sirius to help," he says, looking down at her and cupping her face with one hand.

Danica stands on her toes and places a kiss on his jaw, then his lips. He kisses her back and they stand in a tight embrace for a while. Danica is reminded of their golden love. How relaxing this feeling is, how peaceful.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

A couple of days later, when the final coat of paint has dried, Sirius and Remus come to the house. They are now sitting in the nursery with pieces of crib laying around them. Men being men said that they didn't need instructions, Danica is laughing at them now as she walks into the room.

"Honestly," she says. "Just swallow your pride and open the instructions."

"We could never, Black," Sirius says, looking up at her. He loves calling her by her surname.

"Suit yourself then," she says with a shrug and sits on the floor with them.

"Put that there..." Regulus says as Remus holds two pieces up. "Then that there... yes!"

Danica shakes her head and watches them slowly assemble one crib.

"Wait!" Regulus says. "Who that fuck put the legs on? They're backwards."

He runs his hands through his hair and looks at Remus.

"What?" Remus says. "It wasn't me!"

Regulus looks at his older brother, his eyebrows raised.

"Idiot," he says and punches his arm playfully.

"You're all idiots," Danica says, rolling her eyes.

They eventually sort it out and then build the second crib, this time with Danica telling them what to do because they couldn't remember how the first one went up. When it is built they stand back to admire their work.

"Have you got the sheets?" Sirius asks. "Can we make it all?"

"Not just yet," Regulus says and pats his shoulder. "Soon."

Sirius grins at him.

"Sirius, Remus," Danica says, looking at them both. "We... wanted to ask you something."