Welcome back! Another chapter is ready, and mostly fluff with a little surprise at the end that most people will clock right away. It was a fun one to write.

As many of you know, I'm Latina. So the days 23/24/25 were of me cooking, cleaning and eating alongside my family, so this is pretty much the first actual free day I have of the holydays to post everything. I hope you like it.

This chapter has not been edited.

LEAVE COMMENTS THROUGH THE CHAPTER. I INSIST!

Leticia Morgan was aware that many of the people she met didn't like her.

Growing up she had been described as obnoxiously aggravating and, at some point, she stopped caring about what other people said or thought about her, which caused the people around her to like her even less, for now she was purposefully obnoxious, making sure to ignore people's feelings, opinions and orders for the mere reason that she could do something like that. However, doing that had caused a lot of loneliness. Her grandparents loved her dearly, that much was clear, but they couldn't bear being with her for long periods of time. Her parents loved her and would do anything for her, but they were always so busy – her mother taking care of the house and being a good wife more than being a good mother, and her husband was so focused in climbing up the ranks in his law firm that it left him staying more in the firm than at home. Her aunt was a wonderful woman and had always been kind to her whenever she visited, but she lived in another country, and she had two 'special' children to take care of.

'Special'. For so long Leticia had dreamed of being 'special', because her special cousins were enrolled in a special school, far away from home, wasting their mother's kindness by never being home with her while she rotted at home going to a public school and hating everybody in her class.

Until she met the exchange student from the United States, from some small town in Texas, Jonathan Davis. He was so obnoxiously normal, and she couldn't imagine herself being with anybody else besides him after just a month of going out. He had been understanding, gentle and so very attentive to her that it made her feel – above all – special, as she had always dreamed.

The relationship lasted the year. Then he went home, and she was left behind without much certainty of the future. And when she found out about the pregnancy, the only certainty that she had was that Jonathan stopped all contact with her suddenly, leaving her behind in a strict and religious family, pregnant out of wedlock and without a proper marriage arranged to save her the shame.

Her father wanted nothing to do with her from the very moment she found out of the existence of the baby, and since abortions were outlawed in Spain – and her father a lawyer trying to get respect – he had just told her to get out of Barcelona so she wouldn't embarrass him further. Her mother had tried to comfort her, saying that once the babe had been born and things settled down, they would find a family for 'it', and then she would go back home to a normal life, especially because she was done with school (she could say that she took a gap year before university!, her mother had said, excited), but she did nothing to actually help Leticia.

And, just like that, she had been thrown to her grandparents no more than three weeks after she found out of her pregnancy. There, her grandfather discussed with her father the possibility of sending her to England to get rid of the baby, so she threw herself on the ground, hanging onto her grandfather's trousers and begged for mercy, begged for leniency and for them to find the baby a real family – she used every argument she could find: it was the only thing she would have of Jonathan, she loved the baby already, anything she could think of. It was the classical 'it's a sin' that managed to help her point, however, and within an hour after saying that, her grandfather accepted letting her have the baby. From the on, her grandmother fussed over her the whole time about everything, she was no longer allowed to stay alone for too long and would always be eating something.

Through the pregnancy, she had been healthy as a horse.

Her grandfather told the neighbours that Leticia's husband was in the army in the United States and would send for her when he had bought a house over there, and the baby was ready to travel such a long distance. Leticia hated her grandfather for it, but she was grateful that he was willing to lie to keep her comfortable.

Still, one thing haunted the household. Once the baby arrived, things would be much harder. But not too deep into the pregnancy, her aunt Hope had visited her and her grandparents and the solution for their problem came in version of a smile and Hope's gentle urging for Leticia to move away from all the concerns and shame.

England wasn't the most modern place in the world, nor was it the most accepting, but it was certainly more lenient towards single mothers than Spain was, especially in its countryside. And with Hope's friends' help, Leticia had proper papers for herself, so she moved to Bristol to live with her aunt – pregnant belly gigantic and heavy. So... a single, unmarried mother, started living with a single, divorced mother, and nobody in the neighbourhood (other than a very old woman scowling) had anything to say about it. Hope's house was small, simple and old, but it was a lot more comfortable than the big house Leticia had lived her whole life in Barcelona.

The birth had been awful.

Leticia had woken up in the early morning in pain, though it was bearable for hours, then her waters broke, and she called her aunt in the hospital to announce what was happening. One of the neighbours (the one across the street that knew a bit of Spanish, though he had a thick accent) took her to the hospital with his car looking increasingly terrified at every whimper and groan coming from Leticia, but even after she got to the hospital, it still took five hours more for baby Sophia to come. However, the staff had been quick to help her and very understanding to her situation – not speaking the language 100%, being in pain and being alone – until her aunt got there from a surgery, looking exhausted, but so happy that even Leticia smiled at her for a moment between contractions.

Sophia was born completely healthy, which was everything Leticia could ask for.

Hope's boss, a beautiful brown-haired woman, even allowed Hope a few days off to help Leticia settle down and to receive her parents (Leticia's grandparents) into her home to meet the baby. Hope had been so happy that she had hugged the woman and cried a few tears in gratefulness.

So, there Leticia was, waking up from a nap with her baby in the cot beside the bed (that belonged to Remus, according to Hope) in the afternoon, hearing conversations happening in the floor underneath. Sophia was awake, eyes open and legs moving slightly, but she wasn't crying.

She rubbed her eyes, sighing and feeling the smell of faint lavender, which was a scent that seemed cling to Hope's house. It wasn't unpleasant, but rather comforting, in fact, even if it was jarring at first. When Leticia had asked about the smell, Hope had hesitated and said that it helped people to calm down and for pain to dim, so she had a lot of lavender-based products around the house. Why Hope needed so much lavender, it was a mystery.

Downstairs, the voices grew louder. Leticia recognised her grandfather's tone. Someone answered him in words Leticia couldn't understand through the muffled tone, but she could recognise Hope's cadence. Someone else answered – Leticia froze. She didn't recognise that voice.

But she knew who it was.

Luna's special boyfriend.

She felt the smallest pang of envy prick her chest, making her swallow it down forcefully. Luna, with her charm and effortless intelligence, had always been such a reason of pride for her grandparents and Hope seemed to always have something good to say about her, and now she had a wonderfully respectful boyfriend whom Hope had avoided talking about for Leticia's sake, but Ana had questions about the night before. Luna was everything Leticia had wanted to be when she had always been too loud, too annoying, but at least she had never been easy to ignore.

Sophia let out a soft coo, pulling her mother's attention.

"Don't you have it easy, little one?" Leticia said softly in Spanish, brushing her thumb along Sophia's tiny fingers. "You just want to be held and be loved."

Leticia swallowed down her tears, refusing to let them gather and fall. She wouldn't cry. Not now. Not when Sophai was looking at her with those big eyes, wanting attention, love and protection.

She grabbed the baby gently from the cot, cradling it against her chest as she rose from the bed. The movement made Sophia's eyes widen and a little sound come out.

"Alright," Leticia said in English, testing herself. "Let's meet the family, si? Let's pretend we're brave."

Holding onto her daughter, she walked downstairs slowly, each creak of the old wood underfoot making her stomach churn in anxiety. It was only when she reached the last step that she looked up and took the voices coming into sharper focus.

Hope was laughing at something, but stopped slowly, letting it die out naturally.

"Oh, hi, darling. You're awake," her aunt said, turning to her with a smile still in her lips. "Look at you two, deciding to join us after a nice nap."

Leticia forced a small smile as she looked around at the eyes turning to focus on her.

Her grandparents were on the sofa, looking a little of of place in Hope's modest sitting room as if they had never known a life with less than acres and acres of land in the countryside of Spain. Luna – she recognised straight away the long, blonde hair and rounded face – stood ear the window, hands in front of her body and as radiant as ever at something that their grandfather had said. Remus – as tall as always, but surprisingly scattered in scars in his face and hands – sat in the seat near the window, hunched over as if he didn't want to scare her with his full capacity of looking like a pole. And standing on Luna's other side, leaning against the wall, stood a man that could only be Luna's girlfriend.

Regulus Black.

Leticia had heard about him from Hope, though the woman seemed slightly uncomfortable talking about it to Ana. Luna seemed to describe him as loyal, Remus described him as aloof, but Hope described him as being completely devoted to Luna. Hope had said that he was handsome, yes, but none of her descriptions had prepared Leticia for how truly striking Regulus would be in person. He was tall, lean and his dark hair fell artfully around his pale, aristocratic features, but it was his eyes that got Leticia's attention, they were sharp – almost too sharp as they flicked towards her, assessing her to see if she was worthy of directing him the word.

Her cheeks flushed and she adjusted Sophia.

"Good afternoon," she said quietly.

Regulus nodded politely, though his expression remained unreadable. "Good afternoon," he answered, voice smooth.

Luna looked at her boyfriend, seemingly scolding him for his coldness in silence. Leticia hated it. Leticia hated how Luna turned to her and gave a smile.

"Leticia," she said, overly sweet. "How are you? It has been a while, right?"

Leticia's smile tightened.

"Quite a while. Last time I've seen you, you were a few kilos heavier. You did good, cousin" Leticia said.

Luna blinked at the jab, lip twitching as she forced herself to keep the smile in place, letting it falter only slightly. Regulus, however, raised his eyebrows in obvious disbelief, gaze shifting between the two girls in silence before turning his eyes fully at Luna, clearly communicating with her in silence again.

Leticia sighed in annoyance.

"Remus," Leticia continued, nodding towards the other man in the rom. "It's been a while."

"It has," Remus said, though there was flicker of discomfort in his eyes. "You've... changed."

Leticia shrugged, though she didn't respond directly, looking down at Sophia when she did a small, insistent noise. Truth was that Leticia didn't want to stare at Remus, but she couldn't stop herself unless she was forcing herself to look somewhere else. Hope had warned her that Remus had scars from an accident, but Leticia didn't think there would be so many of them and such a big one in his face.

Hope cleared her throat.

"Luna was wondering if she could hold Sophia," her aunt said, voice gentle.

Leticia looked at her aunt, hesitating as her grip tightened slightly on Sophia.

"It's alright if I can't. It's just that I'm going back to school tomorrow, and I really like babies," Luna said.

"She's small. She's... hm... how do I say it?"

"Fussy," supplied Hope right away.

"Yes, fussy with strangers," Leticia added, nodding with her own words.

"I'll be careful, and I've held babies before, if that's your concern, Leticia," Luna said, voice earnest.

After another moment of hesitation, Leticia reluctantly handed Sophia over to Luna, shoulder sagging in relief when Luna was quick to get the right position to hold the baby. To everybody's surprise, the baby didn't cry; instead, Sophia looked up at Luna with wide, curious eyes and little hands reaching for Luna's face.

"Oh, Le, she's beautiful!" Luna said, voice full of wonder.

Regulus hovered nearby, towering over Luna's small stature to look at the baby, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the scene.

"She's really small," Regulus murmured, though everybody heard him. His tone was filled with something between awe and terror.

Luna glanced up at him, grinning.

"Yes, babies usually are," she said.

"Do not mock my ignorance, Miss Lupin," he answered right away.

"Why! I was merely jesting, Mister Black," Luna answered in a mockingly posh tone, slightly moving Sophia in her arms to get her more comfortable. "Now, seriously, Sophia is a bit on the small side, indeed. But babies are usually around this size, Regulus. And she looks absolutely beautiful."

Remus raised his eyebrows at Leticia's nervous shifting before his expression softened, understanding of the anxiety of parting with one's child – though not at first hand, he had empathy enough to know that it couldn't be easy seeing someone hold your child.

"Luna takes care of the babies and children of the neighbourhood during the summer and some of the breaks. She's used to it," Remus said, voice gentle.

Luna glanced at her brother. "Well, I can attest that none of them are prettier than Sophia!" she said, looking at Leticia and forcing a polite smile.

Leticia was grateful for the compliments, because had to agree. Sophia with her wide, brown eyes and light coloured hair feathering the top of her mostly empty head had to be the prettiest baby she had ever seen in her life, and nothing nor no one could tell her otherwise. She couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want her. And, again, she cursed Jonathan.

"Regulus has never seen a baby before," Luna suddenly said, trying to move the subject.

Heinrich made a scoffing noise, as if the idea was completely ludicrous, but Ana giggled.

"None?" Ana asked.

Regulus gulped.

"None, ma'am," he answered.

"Why?" she asked.

Regulus thought for a moment, shoulder twitching as if he had held back a shrug.

"I suppose I just never had the opportunity. I'm the youngest in my family and my married cousins are childless," he answered.

"No siblings beside the brother that Remus spoke of?" Heinrich asked.

Regulus hesitated, unsure of how to answer it properly, because honesty ("oh, I had a sister, but she died") sounded cruel and lying ("my brother is still my only brother, and my family still expects his return home") sounded pointless.

Remus opened his mouth, but Luna glared at him through the corner of her eyes.

"No, just Sirius," Regulus answered.

Leticia made a little noise, watching Regulus with her cheeks still flushed with some colour.

"Those are... weird names," Leticia said.

Regulus looked at her and frowned a bit before shrugging openly this time. "I suppose it would be for you."

Remus turned to him sharply. "What do you mean by that, Black?" he asked.

Unsure of what had happened, but uncomfortable with the sudden tension in the room, Leticia looked at Luna for some sort of reaction, but she had frozen in place, eyes not looking away from Sophia as if she was scared of what she would see if she looked around.

"Someone outside of my family, of course, Lupin," Regulus answered through his teeth in offence, his top lip curled as if he was about to hiss his next words to the boy, but then she seemed to compose himself slightly. "What did you think I had meant?"

Hope cleared her throat.

"Alright, boys, let's leave it at that," Hope said, stepping forward and taking Luna's place.

Luna passed Sophia back to Leticia, whose shoulder relaxed a bit.

Heinrich watched Regulus attentively as Regulus rolled his shoulders back, looking away from Luna, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as he took a deep, slow breath. His face was devoid of any emotion as he turned to Hope and put on a charming smile, pressing his lips together before speaking:

"I apologise for my outburst, I believe the long trip might have gotten to me," Regulus said.

Luna's eyebrows reached her hairline, but she said nothing, leaving Remus to scoff at Regulus' response.

Hope turned to her son.

"Won't you apologise for accusing Regulus of being rude?" Hope asked.

"I didn't say that."

"But you implied it. I'm not stupid, Remus, I understand exactly where you were trying to drive at, I had long letters exchanged with the Potters to know where this is coming from. Enough. Not in my house," Hope said.

Ana exchanged a look with her husband, who nodded silently.

Leticia pursued her lips together.

"Who are the Potters?" Leticia asked.

Remus turned to her, eyes widening slightly as if he had just been reminded of her existence in the room.

"Oh..." he said, he hummed, thinking of good words. "They're a family. I'm friends with their son. James Potter is sort of my best friend."

"They took in my brother after he ran away," Regulus added.

Leticia hummed in appreciation for the information.

"Another scholarship family?" Heinrich asked.

"No," Remus said, voice suddenly wavering as if he was unsure of what to answer next.

Hope crossed her arms.

"They're good people, Dad. A good, proper Indian family. Good morals," Hope said. "They take care of Remus and Luna when I can't go to school functions or to the parties they are invited to go."

"They take care of us, like Mum is taking care of Leticia now," Luna said suddenly after a while quiet.

All eyes turned to her.

Leticia pressed Sophia against her body, finding some comfort in the fact that even Luna seemed to need another family to take care of her when hers couldn't be there for her. Still, she wondered if she had misjudged her aunt as the perfect mother when clearly Luna and Remus relied on another family's good will to get through school sometimes.

"The boy will sleep here?" Heinrich said, voice booming through the house.

Concerned, Remus looked beside him in the sitting room where Leticia was watching the telly with Sophia asleep in her arms, but the child didn't even stir. Apparently, Regulus had thought the same thing, because his lips twitched once he looked away from the baby and back to the screen, arm around Luna's shoulders.

Hope was answering her father in a hushed tone, clearly asking for silence by the loud hiss that followed.

Ana, who was sitting across from Regulus and Lunna, back to the window as she did her crochet in silence, looked up in surprise at the sentence. She watched Regulus focus back in the film for a while.

Heinrich marched into the sitting room. "Regulus," he called.

Regulus slowly looked away from the television, slipping the arm away from Luna's shoulders as he felt the weight of the man's careful gaze.

"Yes, sir?"

"You'll spend the night here tonight," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think it proper?" Heinrich asked.

Hope sighed and exchanged a look with Luna, who tried to hold back a laugh. They both thought it hilarious that people were concerned for Regulus' actions being deemed improper when they knew the boy, to the point where Luna had complained to her mother that Regulus was 'too proper' before.

"I don't plan on doing anything inappropriate, sir. I don't see how it wouldn't be proper. We won't be alone together," Regulus said, putting his hands on his lap.

"I trust Regulus will respect us all for at least one night, Papá," Hope said.

Heinrich scoffed, not believing his daughter's words for a second. "You said the same thing about your boy, and you came to me with a belly and no ring on your finger," he grumbled.

Hope's quick succession of Spanish words made Luna cringe, reaching for Regulus' hand. Ana's mixture of Spanish and Portuguese made the whole situation feel even more urgent and uncomfortable for everybody involved.

"Well, you liked my boy, and here I am," Leticia said suddenly.

All eyes turned to her.

Ana made a little noise, as if she had just won the argument.

Regulus mumbled something in French to himself, something that nobody in the room understood. Heinrich turned to the boy, eyes narrowing.

"What did you say?" he asked.

Regulus looked up.

"I said 'this feels like Christmas dinner with my family', sir," he answered, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline, but his lips were pressed together, holding back a smile that threatened to slip.

Luna's grandfather seemed about to say something when someone knocked on the front door, making both Hope and Henrich move towards the door in curiosity.

Using the moment where nobody seemed to be paying attention to him, Regulus allowed himself to smile and turn to Luna.

"Your mother said: 'for at least one night'. Does she think I ravish you every night?" he asked, frowning a bit, the nervous smile clear. "Does she know what happened? Should I be worried? Should I apologise?"

"No," Luna whispered back.

Which answer she was answering was unclear, but Regulus decided that 'no' would the answer to all of the questions, so he sat silently in place and obediently turned to watch the television again, still interested in the film.

However, nobody paid attention to the film for much longer, because the hushed conversations became louder and someone laughed. Whoever was at the door, walked into the house and quickly greeted Ana and Heinrich by name before walking into the sitting room.

The woman was absolutely gorgeous, which made Regulus hold his breath and turn his eyes away towards Luna. It wasn't always that he would find a woman so beautiful it would take his eyes off Luna, and it felt disrespectful to even look at her for longer than needed and –

Luna raised a single eyebrow at him, a smirk on her lips.

"Yes, dear?" he asked in a low voice.

"What are you doing?" she asked, voice just as low.

"Looking at you, of course," he answered.

Luna put a hand on top of his head with his smirk growing while turning his head forcefully towards the woman.

"She's pretty," Luna said, leaning over him to whisper on his ear.

"You're prettier," Regulus choked out right away.

Luna chuckled, leaning away while rolling her eyes. She disagreed with Regulus' kind opinion. There was no reason for her to believe that she would one day be as beautiful as the woman talking to her mother.

While it was clear that she was probably around the same age as her mother, or slightly older, she looked well-put together in a sky-blue skirt that reached her shins and a white blouse. Her brown hair was straight, and it fell over her shoulders, slipping over the satin of her blouse easily, her brows were slightly arched, and her cheeks were rosy. The few signals of her age were around her eyes and a few of them on her forehead.

Behind her there was a far younger boy that looked nothing like her if not for the shape of their eyebrows. He was much taller than her and his hair was darker, though he didn't have it so straight – his hair wasn't wavy like Regulus, just had a different texture that was obvious due to the way it was parted in the middle, falling to the sides of his face just above his ears. His lips were thin and his nose bigger than the woman's.

Still, it couldn't be ignored that they were mother and son.

"Patricia, those are my children, Remus and Luna. That is Luna's boyfriend, Regulus. You already know my niece, Leticia, and her daughter, Sophia. Those are my parents, Heinrich and Ana," Hope said, politely presenting everybody. "This is my boss, Head of the Department of Surgery, Patricia Waters – the best neurosurgeon I've seen in my whole career – and her son, Florian Waters."

The woman smiled. "Hello!"

Luna smiled back.

"Hello!" she said.

Florian raised his hand, giving a lazy and general wave. His mother looked at him through the corner of her eyes, which made him sigh and smile.

"Hi!" he said.

Regulus raised a single eyebrow.

Hope gave a chuckle, seeing his surprise. "Florian is American. They came to England not too long ago, Regulus," she explained.

Regulus looked away.

Patricia smiled at Regulus.

"That's an interesting name. It's a star, isn't it?" Patricia asked.

That got the boy's attention enough to make him turn completely away from Luna, uncaring for how it looked.

"Yes, Madame, it is," he answered. "You know your stars?"

"Very little. I was taught in school, no more than that," she answered kindly. "Your mother must have loved stars to name you after one."

"My grandfather was the one to name, actually," he said, though he was unsure as to why he was sharing such a thing. "Mother isn't very good with names, so the responsibility went to my father, but he isn't good at it either, so my grandfather took over. My family likes stars."

"Mine is quite fond of Latin based names," she glanced at her son and gave the moody young adult a look, "hence, 'Florian'."

"It's a beautiful name," Henrich said, taking the conversation.

Patricia turned to give a look to Regulus. "My father was the one to name him, so I don't blame your parents," she said, as if it was an internal joke between them.

Uncomfortable, Regulus just gave her a small smile before putting his arm around Luna once more, pulling her closer to him as if she was a shield against public opinion.

Florian ignored most people in the room and smiled only to Leticia, quickly sitting near the sofa the girl was sitting and offering his arms in silence. Leticia gave a chuckle and slipped Sophia into his waiting arms and the girl didn't even wake up, just fussed for a moment as Florian held her close, saying something in a low voice.

"You like children, do you?" Remus said, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

"I do, dude," he answered, his accent somewhat jarring. "I'm in uni to be a teacher, you see? I like the little devils too much."

"Plan on teaching something specific?" Luna asked, putting a hand on Regulus' knee gently.

"Yeah," he said, exchanging a very quick look with his mother. "I'm doing physical education. I like sports and all that, and maybe I can be a good coach. I know my way around sports."

Heinrich gave a smile and a satisfied chuckle. "Baseball?" he guessed.

Florian seemed slightly more comfortable with the conversation, because he raised his head and smiled even bigger at Luna's grandfather while he shook his head slightly, making sure to not move his body and wake Sophia.

"Nah, soccer," he corrected.

"Football, you mean," Remus said, teasingly.

Florian chuckled. "I guess," he said.

With her hands on her hips, Patricia hummed in agreement. "You're in England now, son, act accordingly," she joked. "Say that awful name again and we'll have problems."

"What? Soccer?" Florian asked.

Hope laughed and even Leticia smiled. Florian winked at Leticia.

TA-DA! I hope you all liked this chapter and the introduction to two character that many have been expected for a long time now.

LETICIA, SOPHIA, PATRICIA AND FLORIAN!