Our family could've been bigger

A HariPo oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. The pairing Regulus/Gideon was discovered by my twin, Morghen, so please give her a little mention if you write them! Thanks! It is one of many of Mew and Mor's Weird Pairings, most of which you may find in the M&MWP forum. Check out and join the forum FUN! Read, review, and enjoy! Note: This fic is a companion piece to her oneshot, "we will be the last ones standing," the 1st Regideon fic, which is a must-read. :}

Happy birthday, Morghen. :} I know I should've written this sooner…but I think it's better as part of your bday pressie. -w-

- ^-^3

"Dad, what was it like when you were young?"

Bill glanced over his newspaper and peered down at his two little daughters, Victoire and Dominique. It was interesting to him, them asking him such a question. When he thought about when he had been young, he thought of himself as a child not all that much younger than the girls' ages of six and ten. He glanced over at his brother, Charlie, who was pulling himself up from the floor after the girls had finished using him as a human jungle gym. "What do you mean?" the father asked.

Victoire and Dominique exchanged a look, and Victoire looked between her father and uncle. "Well, we were wondering—we've got loads of aunts and uncles and cousins and all that. We know that you guys had cousins, too, but what about your uncles and aunts?"

Charlie shook his head. "We never had many aunts. But we had plenty of uncles. Your Uncle Ron—his middle name comes from one of our uncles, Bilius."

"What about your other uncles?" Dominique asked. "Weren't there two Grandmam Weasley knew?"

Bill and Charlie glanced at each other again. "She didn't just know them, Dominique," Bill told his younger daughter. "They were her brothers—twins, in fact."

"Like Uncle Fred and Uncle George," Victoire realized.

He nodded. "Yes. Their names were Fabian and Gideon. They were a lot like Fred and George, though my brothers never really knew them." He smiled warmly. "They were great, though Uncle Gideon didn't let us get into as much trouble…er, mischief as Uncle Fabian would." Charlie chuckled. "Actually, the summer after they graduated from Hogwarts was probably the best summer we ever had when we were kids…" Bill looked at Charlie, and he knew the same memories were playing in his brother's mind.

A memory that Bill recalled best was of the first time Gideon had taken them to a beach. Bill and Charlie had been seven and five at the time, so Bill knew he could recall more of it. It'd been a whole day of fun, full of swimming, laughing, playing, and just general fun. Gideon had been there, and Bill and Charlie—but not Fabian. No, instead someone else had been there.

…Uncle Regulus.

Even now, it was somewhat of an absurd thought. Harry had told only Ron and Hermione at first, but those who knew the truth about Regulus Arcturus Black had come to include Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Charlie, as well as Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall. And yet, only those few Weasleys would ever know the other truth about Regulus.

Bill vaguely recalled the summer before Gideon and Fabian's last year of school. They had butted heads for once, something about Fabian being too much of a big brother towards Gideon. Bill hadn't thought much of it at the time; all he'd known back then was that he'd never lord it over his younger siblings (which had included only Charlie, Percy, and the twins at the time) that he was the eldest. Still, Gideon and Fabian got along well, and Bill and his brothers awaited their uncles' return for the break that Christmas.

It was such a surprise, then, when only Fabian went home. He acted as though nothing was wrong, but Bill sensed that Gideon should've come home with him. Molly hadn't said anything about it, but Bill had known even then how Fabian's mind worked; they were both big brothers, and Fabian had been concerned for Gideon. Why, Bill's young mind couldn't comprehend then.

Bill had known Gideon had written to Molly somewhat often. Time had flown as letters arrived at their own pace, and then it felt so sudden, when Molly and Arthur had collected their children and paid a visit to Hogwarts. It was the time for Gideon and Fabian to graduate from Hogwarts. Things had felt bad between their uncles, but Bill had acted strong in front of Charlie; he couldn't show that he had been worried about their uncles, because he hadn't wanted Charlie to think that they might be the same way someday.

Gideon had been sour that day, and Bill had asked his mother why that was. "I'll tell you when you're older, dear," a younger Molly had told her little boy.

The next time he'd seen Gideon, his face had been so bright, Bill had thought it would hurt to look for too long.

He'd wondered why Gideon was so happy. He'd just left school, hadn't he? He'd just left behind all of his friends. He'd probably never see them again, or at least for a long while. So what could've made Uncle Gideon so stupidly happy?

The answer to Bill's question had arrived one summer day, when Gideon had appeared, asking to take Bill and Charlie out. Molly had been more than happy, for she'd been on her feet all week. Bill and Charlie had left with Gideon.

But they had returned to Gideon's flat for the night with Regulus in tow.

Regulus had called himself Gideon's "friend." Bill hadn't known anything could be insinuated by such a word. Instead, young Bill had admired Regulus, for daring to have long hair, for daring to be a nice Slytherin, for daring to have fun with them (because, even as a child, Bill had been struck by the idea that Regulus was not accustomed to smiling so much or having much fun). And, at the end of the day, a sleepy Charlie had ended up in Uncle Gideon's secure arms, and Bill had dared to take Regulus' hand.

It had been a warm hand, a comforting, close one. Even if Regulus had called himself only Gideon's "friend," Bill had decided that he liked him. And he knew Charlie had, too.

That summer, Bill and Charlie had spent more time than usual over at Gideon's place. Every time they had gone, Regulus had been there. He had been awkward towards them at first—Bill had suspected that Regulus wasn't used to company, let alone the company of children—but he'd warmed up quickly enough. Bill had thought it was his influence. He had always tried starting conversations with the Slytherin, and had had luck. Regulus hadn't treated him like a little kid; he'd spoken to both Bill and Charlie as though they were on the same level as him and Gideon. It had made the boys feel good, and Bill had thought that Regulus…actually fit into their family.

It'd made sense. Regulus and Gideon had almost never been without the other. Bill and Charlie had gotten along great with him. Bill had liked to draw pictures for Regulus, though he'd only ever gotten to give him one. And, and there had been naptime—Bill had loved curling up in the crook of Regulus' pale, frail arm with his little brother nearby. Bill had known that Gideon hadn't minded that at all, for Gideon had taken a photo of one such nap with a Muggle camera he'd gotten for his birthday from Molly.

All too suddenly, that summer had ended. And with it, the idea of an even larger family had disappeared from Bill's mind. When the summer had ended, Regulus had returned to school for his final year, and Uncle Gideon had slipped into a terrible funk, and nothing had felt quite right anymore. Playing with Gideon hadn't as fun, not without Regulus—Uncle Reg—around, but that had turned out to suit Gideon, because he went off to do his own thing, and Bill had known so little.

But, despite what he hadn't known then, he recalled the last time he'd seen Gideon and Fabian. They'd been arguing about something called "The Order" and Bill's mum had been crying and arguing with them.

It wasn't long after that when Uncle Gid and Uncle Fab just didn't come around anymore.

It wasn't much longer after that when Molly and Arthur had confessed to their children that their uncles weren't coming back.

It wasn't very long after that when Bill had asked his parents if that had meant that Uncle Reg wasn't coming back either. Their silence had been answer enough.

Still…though they were far away, almost out of reach, the memories from that part of his childhood were still prominent in Bill's adult mind. A part of him still longed for the good part of that summer, when their uncles had been alive and happy and there and family.

Charlie coughed, picking up where Bill had left off. "It was a fun summer, girls, and we met our other uncle then, too."

"Oh?" Victoire prompted, curious.

"Yes. His name was Uncle Reg."

"Wow!" Dominique said. "There really are a lot of Weasleys!"

The wizards exchanged a look, definitely thinking of that time when ten-year-old Bill had told eight-year-old Charlie that he knew he'd once seen Uncle Gid kiss Uncle Reg in the same way that their parents did. Bill grinned sadly, as did Charlie. "Yes, Dom," Bill finally said, "I suppose there are."

- ^-^3

:') I didn't know how this was going to end until the fic ended itself! :O But, I think it's one of my better endings. Bittersweet, yes, but still…GAH! :'))) This is another one of my "missing moment" fics for Mor's "we will be the last ones standing," because I love filling in the blanks with what the other charries thought of Regideon. I remember *squee*'ing so badly when I beta'd the summer part mentioned with little Bill and Charlie, so I was so happy that I got to write this! X333

I hope you loved this fic, Mor—it's just for you! :')

And thanks to everyone else for reading—please, leave a review!

-mew-tsubaki :'}