Chapter Text
2 years ago - Summer 1974
Every summer holiday, your parents would take you on some elaborate vacation to a different place. This summer was no different from that, except that they’d contacted some of their old friends in England to plan a trip together. Your father was set on making you more fluent in English and had the brilliant idea to force you onto making some English friends.
While you weren’t too excited about spending your summer with a pure-blood family, since your mom had not-wizarding grandparents, you decided you were not going to be a snob and actually try to make some friends. Your parents never told you that the Blacks didn’t know about your mom’s ancestry though, especially after your great-grandmother made a huge effort to hide that side of the family when the racist stuff started getting worse. It wasn’t a secret to you, only to the rest of the world.
“Are you ready sweetheart?” Your mom asked, looking stunning in her white beach dress.
You closed your suitcase and nodded, walking towards her and your dad in the centre of your living room. You stood in a circle and in the blink of an eye apparated in a completely different place. You were in the middle of a giant Lobby, looking straight toward the front desk. It was an open space, there were fountains in the centre and large logs of wood holding a stunning ceiling with floating balls of some wood-like fibre, you could hear the waves crashing onto the shore somewhere in the distance. It looked elegant yet rustic at the same time. On the side of the Lobby, a metal plate spelled
Mayan Occultum Hotel
The #1 Hotel for Witches and Wizards in the Caribbean:
Costa Maya
Followed by 5 shining golden stars that spun around every couple of seconds. Your father had his head up and looked around to try and find his old friends.
Sirius had been dragged to this. While to anyone a vacation in the Caribbean might sound like a dream, to him it was no other than an absolute nightmare, not because he disliked the beach, in fact, he quite fancied the idea of spending some time relaxing under the sun after the finals, the issue here was that he wasn’t going with his friends, no James, No Mooney, no Wormtail. No, he was on a FAMILY vacation, which meant he’d have to spend like 2 weeks locked up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people that hated him. He threw in as many muggle-like clothing items he’d gotten from Andromeda into his suitcase, just to spite his parents and hopefully keep the other wizard family, the one that had the brilliant idea to invite his family to the hotel to come along with them, at bay. He was not interested in making new friends, he was not interested in talking to any that were of his parents at all. After all, they probably would be no other than a bunch of Slytherin snobs.
By the time his mother called him down to the chimney to travel through the floo network, he’d even made sure to add in a pair of Doc Martens to his suitcase, the most punk thing he had gotten his hands on thus far, all thanks to Moony who’d showed him how to order things from a catalogue. He was wearing a leather jacket, ripped black jeans and a pair of Converse shoes, not a very beachy outfit, was it?
When his mom saw him she almost ordered him to go back upstairs to change but Orion said they were late and basically pushed Sirius onto the chimney. He was the first to arrive, Regulus was next, with a very suitable wizard attire, his parents had come soon after.
Once your dad spotted Orion among the crowds he went straight to greet him, your mom followed alongside him and you lagged behind just a bit.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, Orion, you look as dashing as the last time we met,” your father said.
Orion chuckled lightly “I could say the same about you Silas! This must be Avis,” he said as he turned into your mother “I remember as if it was yesterday when you wrote me that you’d found the love of your life.”
Now it was your father who chucked “Walburga,” He nodded towards her, she set her hand out and he gave a courteous kiss. Had they forgotten to tell you were meeting royalty or something? Your parents were rarely this formal with his friends.
Regardless of the odd formalities, you stayed behind them as they caught up, “These are my children,” Orion said pushing forwards two boys, one dressed as a wizard and one with very muggle-like clothes, “This is Sirius,” He pointed at the taller boy, “and this is Regulus,” he said pointing at the smaller one.
Up until then Sirius had maintained a disagreeable face but had been polite enough to your parents so as not to seem like an ass, at least they weren’t overly dressed, they looked like a normal family on vacation, not like they were going to the queen’s wedding at the beach. But his expression changed when your mom moved to the side and he saw you for the first time.
“This is my daughter, (Y/N),” Your father said, placing a hand on your back and pushing you just slightly forward.
“You’ve got yourself a beautiful young lady, Silas, why have you been hiding her behind you?”
“Our (Y/N) is a bit shy,” Your mom excused.
“Just like our son,” Walburga said as she placed a hand on Regulus’ shoulder, with a huge suspicious smile growing on her face. You would’ve taken a step back had it not been for your father’s hand still on your back, Sirius noticed. He’d straightened his back right after you appeared in his field of view, he almost felt self-conscious, of his outfit (probably because of how hot it was), of his hair, he hated feeling that way, but there was something about you, he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Curiosity , it had to be that. He was curious about you.
You responded with an awkward smile, by then your father was already pulling Orion toward the front desk to check in.
“So (Y/N), What year are you in?” Walburga asked, you couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, in a dangerous sort of way, sharp features, a smile that even if it looked kind, hid something behind it. Like a mermaid luring you in before she drowns you, you thought.
“I’m starting my 4th,” You replied politely, trying to hide how intimidated you felt while talking to her.
“Oh,” she said, sounding almost a little disappointed “Like Sirius.” Had she said her child’s name with disdain or was it just your imagination? Perhaps it had something to do with the way the boy dressed.
“I’m sure they’ll become great friends,” your mom said looking at you, then at Sirius and then back at you.
Walburga nodded but did not look very happy with the idea of you making friends with her older son. Regardless, you’d been interested in talking to the boy the moment you spotted him from the distance, he looked like the vocalist of a rock band. If it had not been for the fact that your parents introduced you to him, you might have lived on assuming he was some sort of celebrity.
In the midst of the awkward silence your father and Orion came back. Your father smiled towards you, almost apologetically “Sweetheart there is an event for couples on the other side of the hotel, Orion and I thought it would be good to spend some time there to catch up, would you mind exploring the rest of the hotel with the boys?”
Well, there goes your family vacation, makes sense after all, your father had been looking for an excuse to move back to England for a while, maybe he’d talk to Orion about the ministry jobs available, Orion did have the politician look going for him. You forced a smile “Not at all Dad, it’ll be fantastic to get to know them,” you hoped that did not come out as ironic as you meant it. Although Sirius' snicker from behind gave you the impression it was not like that.
Your dad handed you and the boys a map each “We’ve enhanced them, that way we can always find you.”
Your smile only tightened but you kept it until they were out of sight. Once you made sure they were far enough you pulled your wand out and murmured “ incendio, ” causing your map to slowly burn itself, you let it drop once the fire was too close to your hand.
“Did you just use magic? Aren’t you 14?” Regulus asked with a frown.
You turned to him with a smile “There are many qualified wizards around us,” you responded opening your arms to gesture at the amount of people surrounding you “Besides, this hotel is part of the Occultum line, anyone that has studied at least until year 2 is permitted to use magic–” After hearing this words Sirius used incendio to burn his map as well, you raised your eyebrows towards him and then continued “–that’s why my parents picked it, they wanted me to spend some time practising spells for the next year.”
Regulus only settled his map on a nearby suitcase that was soon sent flying away, presumably towards its own room, proving how unnecessary the magic you’d both used had been “I heard there was an orchestra at noon, maybe we can go there?” He suggested.
“Sure, I guess…” You said before grabbing a pamphlet that mentioned all the activities the hotel had going on that day, but one seemed a tad more interesting “What about his one tho?” You said pointing at something written on the paper.
“A muggle movie screening?” Regulus asked with a grimace, Sirius, on the other hand, seemed a lot more interested in it.
“Let’s do that! Sounds fun!” Sirius decided, took the pamphlet from your hands in an action that would’ve been rude had he not done it with such grace, and started walking towards the direction the pamphlet indicated.
“Not sure Mom and Dad would like that,” Regulus argued as the two of you followed, lagging behind Sirius only slightly.
“Of course, they wouldn’t,” You agreed with him, but caught up with Sirius soon after “Regardless, dear Reg, is not like they’re going to know, we all got rid of our maps.”
His frown didn’t leave his face even after he caught up with you, walking by your side, instead of his brother’s. Weird , you thought.
“And don’t even think about telling dear mommy and daddy about it Reggie!” Sirius warned.
Regulus didn’t fancy how quick you’d gotten comfortable with giving him a nickname, regardless he decided to go with it, it was probably better to stick to Sirius to make sure he didn’t cause some mischief that would have the three of you grounded for the rest of the summer, or your lives , whichever came first.
The three of you arrived at the “cinema” area quickly enough. “Well, even if the movie is bad, the experience will be authentic.”
“You’ve been to a cinema?” Asked Sirius impressed.
“Last summer while I was in New York,” you explained, “very similar to this one, ‘bit more run down.”
“And your parents allowed you?” Asked Regulus, almost judging.
“Perhaps they would’ve If they’d known ,” you replied with a mischievous smile.
The three of you walked to the stall and asked the lady attending to give you 1 large bowl of popcorn and three butter beers. The lady grabbed a large bucket and threw some kernels inside it, followed by a block of butter and a sprinkle of salt, she then murmured “ calidium .” Hot air started coming from her wand, heating the kernels and having them pop in front of your eyes.
You leaned in closer to Regulus and whispered “They didn’t have that in the cinema I went to.”
The lady continued with her task and started serving the butter beers when Sirius decided to speak up.
“What’s the sorting hat popcorn?”
“You spin the thing, and a block of candy will come out, we add that to the corn before popping and when it does, it becomes sweetened popcorn with the colour of your house, it’s inspired by the Hogwarts sorting hat,” She explained.
He nudged you, “You should try it, see which house you’d be in if you studied with us,” He said with a smile.
“That’s ridiculous, random candy cannot be as wise as the sorting hat,” Regulus complained.
You shrugged “Seems like a fun deal,” You said, walking towards the fun-looking machine and spinning the wheel. A dark block of candy came out and you handed it to the lady. After she performed the same spell as last time, minus the salt, the popcorn started to pop, turning into different shades of grey, gold, green and silver. You turned to the boys “Which house is that?”
“Seems like you’re in between,” the lady replied. “The popcorn is not as accurate as the sorting hat I’m afraid.”
“In between what?”
“Slytherin–“ started Regulus.
“–And Gryffindor.“ finished Sirius, the air seemed to tense up in that minute and you just had to do something, so you threw your fist inside the bucket and grabbed a couple of them, popping them in your mouth.
“Who cares? I highly doubt I’ll ever be in Hogwarts anyway,” You said as you grabbed one of the buckets and your mug of butter beer. “Can I also have some of those?” You said pointing toward the every flavour beans, the lady nodded and handed you a box.
“The movie starts in 15 minutes,” said Regulus after looking at the time in the giant magical clock.
“Excuse me, what’s a magic projection?” You asked the clerk near the door.
“It’s the movie, but with special magical effects, like things that come out of the screen and several other effects, it’s immersive,” he explained and you nodded, definitely not like the muggle cinema you’d been to before.
“I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
“It’s a program in development, a very talented new-maj called Drey started bewitching films just 2 years ago, they became very popular in the industry, and this is one of her newest projects.”
Before Regulus could open his mouth Sirius spoke “That sounds fantastic! Can we walk in already?” He asked with the most charming smile you had ever seen and after the clerk nodded he dragged you both inside.
“I’m still not fascinated by this idea,” Regulus complained.
“Don’t be such a party popper Reg,” You said, throwing a popcorn at him. He brushed it off his coat and started looking at the ads on the screen.
You then threw one in the air and caught it with your mouth, it’s something you’d seen muggles do in the theatre you had been to last year.
“Shoot one,” Sirius said, you shot a popcorn and he’d easily caught it, he then winked and motioned for you to send another one. You did, but the third time you grabbed an every flavour bean instead, he also caught it and bit on it with ease, grimacing right after.
“Treason!” He said after forcing it to go down his throat “I demand her head!” he added while exaggerating his expressions in a very Alice in WonderLand Queen of Hearts-like attitude, then he relaxed again “That was awful, and no warning either!” You just laughed in return, “no wonder the popcorn wanted you in Slytherin” he said, Regulus rolled his eyes.
“What flavour was it anyway?” You asked, to drive the conversation away from the house topic, which clearly was a sensible one.
“Your mom’s,” he replied. After understanding the implication of his answer you gasped and playfully hit him on the arm “Sorry, sorry, It was something like sewer water or something, one of the worst I’ve had in my life.”
Regulus looked at the box and then at you “You want one too?” You asked politely, while there seemed to be some kind of tension between the two boys, neither of them seemed particularly evil, or mean, if anything Regulus was rather shy compared to his loud brother, almost like he did not want to get on the bad side of his parents, something Sirius didn’t really seem to care much about. He quietly nodded to respond to your question and you shot one towards his face, it unfortunately didn’t land on his mouth and fell to the side. He was about to call it off but you didn’t let him. “It’s ok if you don’t get it the first time, we can try again.” And so, you sent another bean flying towards him, this time he caught it with ease and munched on it with a rather pleasant expression “So?” You asked expectantly
“Peaches,” he replied with a smile.
“Unfair,” Sirus said as he crossed his arms and took the box from you “It’s your turn.”
“I’m terrible at catching with my mouth,” you warned, but he threw one at your face anyway. It landed on your eye, thankfully you closed it first.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” He said, grabbing your face with his two hands to check if you were ok. Did he not know about personal space? “You OK?” He was so close you could smell his breath, it was minty and fresh, despite having had popcorn already.
“Yeah, I’m good,” you said, shaking him off and picking the jelly bean from your shirt, where it’d fallen after attacking you “Got fast reflexes,” you said before popping it in your mouth, you grimaced.
“What was it?” Regulus asked.
“Lime I think, it was very sour,” you said, turning towards him “Guess you’re the lucky one between the three of us.” Regulus smiled awkwardly as a reply and then the screen turned on.
A lady showed up on the screen “Welcome, witches and wizards, this is the newest rendition of the magical cinema series. Welcome to this incredible adventure in which you will face a terrible creature, the dangers of the sea and the world as told from a muggle perspective. There will be a lot of water, hope you brought your bathing suits.” She disappeared shortly after and then the titles started rolling in.
It was actually a beach movie, funny when you remembered that the beach was just a minute's walk away from where you stood. And it was definitely NOT like an ordinary muggle film, there were splashes of water in your face, things crawling on your seat, smoke, smell and even the shark would get out of the screen and swim all over the room. It was thrilling, to say the least.
When the move was over the three of you were soaked, the boys had their fluffy hair clinging onto their faces as you walked out of the theatre. But they also looked happy, Sirius was thrilled, unsurprisingly, but even Reg seemed at ease, even if he had gone to a “muggle thing”.
“We should go see the beach now,” Sirius said.
“Just hope Larry Vaughn is not the mayor here,” you responded and cracked a laugh from the two brothers.
The three of you then walked towards the beach area, there were lounge chairs with umbrellas on top, some beach beds and a stand where you could ask the house elves to bring you different special drinks. As you were sitting down in one of the chairs you overheard some wizards passing by. And you couldn’t help but to be enthralled by their conversation. Regulus was sitting by the end of the bed, looking wearily at the sea and Sirius was taking off his jacket and laying it on the back of the bed for it to dry with the wind, he was rocking a David Bowie shirt underneath. “Hey (Y/N) do you want anything from the–“
“–Shhhh,” you said as you gestured for him to listen to the conversation as well.
“Yeah, the ziplines were amazing, it’s fantastic the hotel counts with muggle transportation all the way to the parks,” one of the wizards said.
“Do you think we should go again,” asked the other one.
“No, Mom said we’d go to the ruins tomorrow, something about magical vestiges or whatever.”
That’s when you stood up “Hey!” You said with a smile “Sorry, we kinda overheard you talking about the… what did you call them? Zip lines? We were wondering what park you were referring to.” You really could be charming when you wanted to.
“It’s Xplore,” one of the boys replied.
The other grabbed his backpack and handed you a brochure “I took this one from the park, maybe it helps,” he said with a bright smile as well.
“Thank you, you’re a darling,” you said before going back to your beach bed, sitting on the side, next to Sirius, Reg was still sitting on the end of the bed, but he clearly did not like where the conversation was going.
“You even got them to give you a brochure?” Sirius mused.
You shrugged and set it on the centre of the bed, opening it up just to realise it was in Spanish.
“Reg speaks some Italian,” Sirius said motioning towards his brother.
“I’m not translating any muggle propaganda.”
“It’s NOT propaganda,” you argued, “regardless I came prepared,” you said as you took out your wand, waved it and whispered “ tradussere .” The letters of the page started changing and soon enough it was all in English.
“I thought you needed to speak the language to be able to do that,” Reg said.
“You do, and I can only manage to make it last a couple of minutes, so we better hurry,” you replied.
XPLORE
Jungle adventure park with zip lines, amphibious vehicles, whitewater rafting and underground rivers.
Prices start at $1500 MXN
Experience a true adventure on your trip to Mexico by flinging through ZIP lines, swimming on underground sacred rivers and riding amphibious vehicles in the Mayan rainforests.
On the brochure, there were also photos with people wearing climbing gear and helmets. People swimming in dark but beautiful cabins, it really looked like an adventure-filled experience.
You and Sirius gave each other a look after reading “WE HAVE TO GO!” you said to each other at the same time.
“No, we don’t HAVE to do anything,” said Reg “In fact, we CAN’T.”
“Come on Reggie, it sounds super fun,” you argued, trying to convince him.
“Mom and Dad would kill us before letting us go,” he reasoned with Sirius “You don’t need to make things worse between you and them.”
“I do, especially if they act like racist bastards,” Sirius bit back defensively.
“Sirius,” Reg said with pain in his eyes, clearly he cared about his brother, but Sirius seemed to be too pissed off to even consider that.
“I…” you thought about it for a second “They don’t have to find out…”
“What?” Reg asked, turning his face to you.
“We just have to pick a day that’ll be very busy for them and go then, one with many activities. Besides I’m sure my father and yours are just so eager to catch up that we won’t see them much this summer…”
“I’m not gonna do it,” Regulus said with conviction “It’s a terrible idea, you shouldn’t do it either,” You were far too excited to notice the fear in Regulus' eyes, had you been more observant, maybe the mess you’d get into later could’ve been avoided.
“Clam down Reggie, it’ll be in and out, they’ll never find out,” Sirius reasoned, “We need to be perfect in picking the day,” he said turning towards you.
Regulus denied with his head and pulled a book out of his bag as you and Sirius continued planning your escapade.
You’d be in charge of the money exchange process since you already had done it before and knew how the entire process worked, Sirius would make fake muggle passports for the two of you, so you could get rid of the parental signs and age requirements they ask for in the park, Regulus, as he’d said before, would stay, but he’d make sure to cover for you in case you parents started looking for the two, he was still against it, but you had convinced to at least do that for you.
After days of careful planning, the opportunity finally presented itself, your parents would have a very busy schedule with some magical presentations happening at the hotel and the three of you would have the day to yourselves.
“So… tomorrow, we have everything?” You asked Sirius.
He nodded “Fake passports, the money, the bus that’ll take us there. We’ll depart at 7, the park opens at 11 because it’s a Tuesday, but we’ll be dropped off at the city and from there, we have to take a taxi or something to get to the park.”
“Perfect.”
“You know, you can still call it off,” said Regulus, peering from his book, “At least consider it tonight.”
The two of you turned towards him, every time the subject came up, Regulus would say something similar “It’ll be ok Reg, just promise you’ll cover for us,” you pleaded.
He took a deep breath but turned his face towards you and nodded unconvinced “Just be very careful, you don’t know how angry our parents can get.”
You took that as an exaggeration, after all, Sirius had played it as such for the longest time. You couldn’t have been more mistaken. You should’ve listened . But the idea of a day full of adventure next to Sirius was just too intoxicating for you to pay attention to the alarm system activating in your head, after all, the minute you’d met Walburga you’d known something was wrong with her.
“We’ll be fine, Reg, stop acting like a chicken,” Sirius said, diverting your attention again.