#tagging drarry to make jegulus more popular

[daddiesdrarryy]

Baby Harry: *crying*

Regulus, picks Harry up: Oh, it’s okay, sweetheart, you’ll learn how to do that on the inside when you get older

James: …

James: Love, are you okay?

[starchaserandsunseeker]

no thoughts. juste regulus calling james « mon soleil » thinking he doesn’t know what it means and him letting reg think that because he knows he’d stop and he’d be embarassed if he knew the truth

[reggie-black-is-my-gender]

Y’all… I’m so tempted to write a maurauders era band au, and I’m like so close. My only issue is that I don’t have a beta, and I’m a bit shit so I kind of need one, so if anyone could help me out with that I’d really appreciate it!

(I’m like almost done the first chapter so it’s started)

[moldycrustyvoldy]

james “finger guns” potter + regulus “middle fingers” black 

[the-wolfstar-cupboard]

Hello! Welcome to the Wolfstar Cupboard, an active wolfstar fanfiction library!

GUIDELINES:

As of right now, I am only recommending fics off of AO3 (Archive of Our Own) because that is the site I prefer. That does not mean I won't check out some other popular sites in the future, but at the moment, I'd like to stick with the one I know best(:

I will NOT read fics containing:

Rape/Non-Con

M-Preg or A/B/O

Ageplay

Beastiality

Pedophila

Glorification of Cheating

WIPs

Please do not harass me over the fics I like or recommend! These are just some of my favorites, and not everyone has the same taste. Let's please keep everything positive<33 (Except for the fics. We love some good angst.)

FIC REQUESTS

If you look at my pages (in the blog description on mobile) you will find a Request a fic! page. There, you can recommend ME a fic to read, or request a category for a rec list! They can be as niche as you want, but if I can't find anything, I'll still post it so anyone else can recommend you a fic. I'll try my best to provide for your request, though!

I will do my best answer all asks within a timely manner(:

REC LISTS

Every rec list I will make will be organized by niche categories, such as "Raising Harry" fics or "College AUs." You can request categories, which I will go over in the next little paragraph!

If you look at my pages (in the blog description on mobile) you will find a Request a fic! page. There, you can recommend ME a fic to read and add to a rec list, or request a category for a rec list! They can be as niche as you want, but if I can't find anything, I'll still post it so anyone else can recommend you a fic. I'll try my best to provide for your request, though!

MY MASTERLIST

My masterlist will be a complete catalogue of all the fics in my rec lists. It will start out very small, and grow gradually as this library grows. I can't wait to see it full!

FEATURED SHIPS

(This is a list of ships that I personally enjoy and will definitely be featured in some of the fics I recommend. Obviously, not all the ships listed above will be in all the fics I recommend. Ships like Jegulus are found less often in fics, while ships like Jily are found more often. I try to be as fair to each ship as I can but it’s just not an equal fight.)

Jily (James Potter/Lily Evans)

Dorlene (Dorcas Meadowes/Marlene McKinnon)

Jegulus (James Potter/Regulus Black)

Fralice (Frank Longbottom/Alice [insert maiden name I have yet to figure out])

(minor) Drarry (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter)

SHIPS I WILL NOT FEATURE

(This will probably be a growing list, since I discover odd ships I personally do not enjoy almost every day! AO3 tags are really something.)

Lily Evans/Severus Snape

James Potter/Severus Snape

Remus Lupin/Severus Snape

Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

Literally any variation of wolfstar and Snape or wolfstar and James as a threesome foursome whatever. If you enjoy those ships, that's great! But I personally don't and would prefer not to read fics with them.

ANY MORE QUESTIONS?

Send me an ask or private message! I'll respond as quickly as I can(:

DISCLAIMER: My rec lists are ever-changing! I spend an alarming amount of my day reading and discovering new fics, and might add any new favorites to old lists if they fit under a category I already covered. If a rec list changes a lot after its original posting, I may remove the link to the old post and link it to a repost of the updated list.

Thank you for taking the time to read over this introductory post! If you like what you see, you can boost this post by reblogging or giving it notes. That way, this account can spread and reach a larger audience(:

[broomsticks]

Marauders era femslash ship stats

aka what the hell is a dorlene

Some stats focusing exclusively on the 15 ships between the six characters Alice Longbottom, Dorcas Meadowes, Emmeline Vance, Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon, and Mary Macdonald -- namely all the female characters that appeared in the Order of the Phoenix photo taken in summer 1981 (the former 5) or canonically known to have been in Gryffindor House at the same time as the Marauders (last).

Omission of Pandora Lovegood, Amelia Bones, Black sisters and Hogwarts faculty (incl. Sybil Trelawney) was intentional, but other thoughts/suggestions welcome!

other notes/caveats: works on AO3, stats gathered April 2023.

an overview:

• • •

the first question I was interested in looking at: just how overrepresented in Marauders femslash shipping are Dorlene and Marylily some ships?

Lily and Marlene are the two most-written-about characters on this list, with 42k and 12k works respectively. Dorcas and Mary are both close at 8.5k, and there are comparatively very few fics about Alice (4.7k) and Emmeline (1.5k).

that in itself is interesting and curious considering there's comparable amounts of canon info about Dorcas and Marlene (next to none), a smidge more about Emmeline, and definitely more about Mary and Alice. some suggestions there about what drives fanon popularity, at least within the 2020s HP fandom!

dorlene!

interesting -- it might feel like there's a ton of marylily, but that's actually 'just about the amount we would expect to see if they were all shipped with each other at random, with equal frequencies.'* good to know!

significant lack of alice in these marauders era pairings

also that's quite the overrepresentation of mary/emmeline! (proportionally, for two very minor characters.)

*: i really like this analysis method and might try to apply this to All The Marauders Gen(TM), and maybe make some observations about M/M vs F/M vs F/F shipping. note to self!

some % over- or under-representation. lazy to explain the logic but it's essentially observed/expected similar to that above, "how much more or less do two characters appear shipped together based on what would be expected by how often they're each tagged", where 1 would be the 'baseline' of "these characters are shipped together exactly as often as would be expected", <1 is "less than expected" and >1 "more than expected".

dorlene centralization

marylily overtook lily/marlene

many mary femslash ships growing

alice is really not shipped with this crowd hahaha

• • •

on a different note,

for comparison, the OTP:true % for wolfstar is 43%, drarry 70%, jily 23%, and jegulus 22%. the average otp:true % for the top 5 ships here is 8.9%.

most of these femslash ships are written alongside wolfstar and to a lesser extent jily, more so than jegulus...

...with the biiig exception of lily/mary, which was notably different from most femslash ships in the lack of overlap with jily and 80% overlap with jegulus.

surprising and unexpected: the overlap of dorcas/emmeline with jily, and mary/emmeline with dorlene.

i would love to do a change over time but i'd have to get sO MANY STATS that realistically idt this is happening

• • •

"overall average" looks identical to dorlene, which makes up 70% of the fics here.

this is not filtered for otp:true or for f/f excluding m/m and f/m, so more stats needed to determine whether this relatively low % of E fic is exclusively a femslash phenomenon or a more general marauders subfandom trend.

(alice/marlene, the ship with the highest % of E fic, is one of the ships with a relatively high otp:true %, but with 11 fics total i'm not sure how much we can conclude from this.)

also not too sure what to make of the (in my opinion?) high? percentage of NR fics.

• • •

my very rough attempt to quantify 'average age of ship' -- getting a "date at which which half the existing works in the ship tag on ao3 were posted updated."

Dorcas/Emmeline: 2019/04

Alice/Lily: 2020/05

Emmeline/Marlene: 2020/08

Emmeline/Lily: 2021/02

Lily/Marlene: 2021/03

Alice/Marlene: 2021/04

Dorcas/Mary: 2021/07

Dorcas/Marlene: 2021/08

Emmeline/Mary: 2021/09

Marlene/Mary: 2021/09

Dorcas/Lily: 2021/12

Lily/Mary: 2022/01

all dates obviously veerrryy rough.

• • •

Conclusions:

there isn't actually an overrepresentation of lily/mary (*within the very specific parameters of this study etcetc)

dorlene centralization over time

these marauders femslash ship fics are mostly also wolfstar fics

marylily fics are mostly also jegulus fics

lack of E rated fics?

some interesting differences in 'average age of ship'

[onbeinganangel]

2022 round-up ✨

ooooh this is such a fun end of year little tag game!! thank you @danpuff-ao3 for the tag!

Rules:

1. Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), 2. your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year, 3. your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, 4. your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, 5. and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year!

Before I get into it, I’m tagging @vivantesopales @the-starryknight @mintawasalreadytaken and @sweet-s0rr0w 💕 no pressure, have fun! Alright, here we go:

5 fics

(i wrote a total of 6 so this should be easy enough lol from favourite to least loved — by me personally, fuck stats — we have:) savage natures [aftg, andrew/neil, mary hatford character study, 6k, M]

It starts with the now-familiar smell of blood long seeped into the fake leather of the car seats, with the stench of burning plastic, flesh and gasoline.

It starts like any good ghost story should: I am dead, and Nathaniel has come back at last.

geometric equilibrium [aftg, andrew/kevin/neil, getting together, mutual pining, 10k, M]

Kevin graduates and Neil thinks he’s pretty. Andrew graduates and Kevin pines. Neil graduates and Andrew is way more than 100% done with all this triangle-shaped bullshit and can’t believe he has to be the one to fix it.

Or: the Flawed Court get together, in three graduations acts.

Second Best [hp, harry/regulus, past jegulus, past sirry, porn with a side of hate/hurt but it's not quite hate fucking, 8k, E]

Can you want me like you wanted him? Because I do.

Liturgia Horarum [hp, draco/harry, very soft domestic fluff, 1.5k, M]

From morning melodies to evening encores, a day in the life through the soundtrack of routine.

facedown on my bed (thinking of you) [hp, fem!drarry, hogwarts is an all girls school, getting together, uni au, friends to lovers, 10k, M]

Sometimes the feelings you have for your enemy-turned-roommate-turned-bff are not as platonic as you think. Sometimes you're the last person to realise it.

4 current WIPs

(these are all AFTG fics, sorry HP pals) [redacted aftg mixtape exchange fic] - can’t say much except that my recipient chose an amazing song and a brilliant pairing and that the mods are the best and the stars aligned and fate was on my side when i was given this prompt and i’m really excited to finish it and for it to be out in the world

the next three are actually a series of pwp fics set in the same universe where we have established kandreil but i’m giving them all one-on-one time (therefore, three fics)!! i’m very excited about it! this series features: trans neil, professional athlete shenanigans, kevin being a freak, neil being a horny little shit, andrew being his little weirdo self who plays exy because there's nothing better to do but actually is the epitome of a malewife. lots of porn with a side of domesticity, just the way i like it stand in awe of him - the kevneil fic, which yes is titled after a psalm do not dare @ me lol this one is a very soft rapid escalation of morning glory snuggles and domestic chats in which kevin and neil are in bed and start talking about andrew and at first it's like "oh he's so cute when he's grumpy" and suddenly it's like "and that thing he does with his tongue" and they just get each other off thinking about how much they love their bf!!!! like good for them tbh

clinging to you - kandrew!!!! size difference!!!!! 🥵🥵 like there is one vertical foot between those two bastards and you think i'm not gonna make it a thing? i'm gonna make it a thing. i actually have a good chunk of this one written already, it has taken over my brain. just kevin being "ah andrew is so Large and Beefy and Good at Exy" (*cough cough* exy kink *cough cough* competence kink) but then suddenly they're in bed and he realises he can cover ALL of andrew with HIS body and he's like "oh it turns out he's smol but that's also hot?" immediate fireworks in the ol' brain box!!!!

waiting, wanting - ah. the andreil with that one premise that has been done a gazillion times across every random on earth but idc because i want it. neil is horny, andrew is asleep, kevin is across the world and in the end andrew and neil end up fucking with kevin on the phone listening in. neil gets fingered within an inch of his life and andrew gets mocked for his bad french accent and it’s all very delightful, if i say so myself

3 biggest improvements

oh yay tooting my own horn, my favourite activity lmao cutting back - i started this year with a very clear goal of doing No Fests. i did nearly fail at this and i DID sign up to a fest although for no fault of my own that didn't work out in the end which means No Fest 2022 was a success. i also spent a lot less time forcing myself to write and a lot more time thinking about my motivations, the stories i really want to tell and what kind of presence i want to have. i wish i had cut back more but it's very hard. a while ago i described to a dear friend how falling out of love with a fandom community is a bit like moving house, and this move hasn't been smooth. i am proud of my efforts here though!

finding a balance to my outlining process - outlining has always been my weakness. my two longer works are a bit of a mess continuity-wise because my brain just hates outlining. the moment i write down what happens it ticks the wee box for that task and assumes i am done. this year i have found a happy balance where i don't outline too much so that my brain still thrives on the mystery but enough so that the final product isn't a total mess.

characterisation vs plotting - this ties in a little bit with the outlining thing above but i feel like a lot of what i wrote this year was character motivated rather than plot driven! it's a bit of a new approach for me but i am very pleased with the results. it took a lot of studying (mostly reading original stuff, but also a ton of @skeptiquewrites fic because in my opinion, no one does a full cast of characters that feel real and fleshed out and wonderful every single time like tee does!) and a lot more time considering who these characters are instead of actively writing to advance a story, which really worked out for me

2 resolutions

get back to original work - i have a novel idea that's been in my head for a very long time and my goal was to work on it at some point this year. i even gave it a good go during NaNo — unfortunately, it is largely horror and also very much based in my childhood home, in which i am currently living... you can see how that probably wasn't a good idea in the first place. (wtf was i thinking) so, depending on whether or not i manage to finish building and move into my tiny home at some point in 2023, a good chunk of a first draft should be achieved sometime next year!

give myself some grace - well. yeah. that. this is basically an extended version of the "cutting back" improvement from this year. i have to remind myself a lot that unexpected heartbreak and real life shit and bad mental health are all a thing. i'm not always going to be able to finish my projects, and sometimes i will be able to finish them but it won't be what i want it to be. so i'm putting joy above every other feeling next year by cutting myself some slack

1 favourite line

all my favourite lines this year are from the same fic but i am obsessed with how kevin and neil are basically canonically soulmates so i’m gonna go with:

“A raven-black string of fate tying their pinkies together — Neil's own scarred hand to Kevin's racquet-mangled one.” from geometric equilibrium

[siriusly-sapphic]

For the ship asks: what is the most underrated and overtated ships in your opinion? <3

Shipping asks!

Most underrated ship: At the moment I wanna say Parvati/Luna and Dorcas/Narcissa simply because I am in a mood for them and no one else seems to be. But seeing as those are also completely random characters to pair up, I can see why. In general, I'm gonna go with the 'popular' femslash ships? Even for just dorlene, which is definitely one of the more like established sapphic ships here, it's so hard finding it in content where it's not the sideship to wolfstar or jegulus. (Like legit if you go to the Marlene/Dorcas tag on AO3, M/M is still the most popular category and something about that just kinda annoys me sometimes lol)

There are obviously a lot of different reasons why that's the case, I'm not mad at anyone or anything, but it's a little disappointing when I just want the girls to fall in love sometimes. In that trend though, I will stick to my initial Dorcas/Narcissa and Parvati/Luna because those are girls that deserve some love.

Most overrated ship: Not to stir anything, I mean no hate to any shippers bc y'all look like you're having a blast and I'm very happy for you, but I'm so very glad for tumblr making it easy to mute jegulus posts. I don't get the appeal, I can't imagine it's something James would ever do except for very specific AUs, I just don't like it and it's grown SO much recently (especially on tiktok where filtering content is so frustratingly difficult lol). They've become one of the seemingly 'established' ship in half the headcanons I see even for other characters, and personally I'm just never a huge fan of it when that happens to any ship (simply because what I love most about the marauders era is that none of it is established) but with drarry and wolfstar, at least I like the ships you know. I just don't like jegulus and it's so prominent right now. But again, obviously, y'all seem to be having great fun and this is what they made muted tags and dldr for lmao, I'm not hating on anyone. (God knows I have no right left to judge anyway).

(I will say, I see Crimson Rivers excerpts sometimes when I looked for sirius and narcissa content on twitter, and one of the recent (I think recent) scenes made me cry without even reading the fic, so I very much get why good fics like that bring people in lmao)

[coriesocks]

Author Meme

Thank you to @tsundanire for the tag! (and @lettersbyelise who tagged me as i was writing this)

Author Name: Ruarcher

Fandoms You Write For: Mostly Harry Potter (Drarry, Scorbus, Jeddy, Jegulus, Bleville), but Ive also written for Haikyuu and done a little Dragon Age/HP crossover

Where You Post: AO3, and occasionally on tumblr if it’s short. 

Most Popular One-Shot: Anyone But Him (~19k, E), a Drarry i wrote for FanFair last year

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: Failed Application of Thought (~67k, T), a Drarry I wrote for Erised last year.

Favourite Story You Wrote:  Once More, With Feeling (~18k, E), a Scorbus I wrote for Kink Fest this year, or possibly the Jegulus i wrote (Call Me, Maybe, ~6k, T ) because it’s ridiculous and was loads of fun to write.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: I’m nervous to post every story😅 

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Mostly, i use song titles, but sometimes i ask my betas for help.

Do You Outline: Yes, pretty much always, althought the depth of outlining depends on the length of the fic. I like to have an idea of where i’m going even if the destination shifts as I write.

Complete: 38

In-Progress: 1 - it’s for an anon fest so i can’t give details

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: i have so many ideas.. but not sure what I’ll end up writing. I want to try making a start on my original... so that probably means i’ll procrastinate by signing up for a load more fests.

Do You Accept Prompts: Yes! But it may take me a while to get around to filling it because i keep signing up for fests 

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: Very much enjoying the current one i’m writing for Next Gen Fest, and i’m also keen to get started on the original idea that’s been knocking around my head for a bit.

Tagging: @motherbookerao3 @littlerose13writes @fidgetyweirdo @diligent-thunder @carpemermaidtales @aibidil

[daddiesdrarryy]

Sirius, opens door: Hey Prongs wha—what…

James: PADS! Okay! It’s not what it looks like!

Sirius: What are you doing on top of my brother?

Regulus: Sirius, calm down first

Sirius: I’m calm! I’m so calm *laughs* Now tell me what’s happening, Prongs, before I shove this wand so far up your—

James: WE’RE DATING!

Regulus: James!

James: What? He saw us

Regulus: All right, fine, James and I are dating

James: For six months

Sirius: …

Sirius: You—you-you’re dating my brother?

James: Yeah

Sirius: Without telling me?

Regulus: We were hoping you wouldn’t notice that

Sirius: Oh I can’t believe this! And to catch you guys on my own bed! What the hell is wrong with you two?

Regulus: We thought it was James’s bed!

James: And we weren’t doing anything, Pads

Sirius: YOU WERE SHOVING YOUR TONGUE DOWN MY BROTHER’S THROAT!

James: Oh...okay, we were doing one thing. At least you didn’t walk in on us when I first deflowered Reg

Regulus: James! Why would you tell him that?

James: …I don’t know

Sirius: You—you...you deflowered my brother? MY BROTHER? DEFLOWERED?

Regulus: It’s not that big of a deal, Sirius!

Sirius: Oh my god I cannot believe this! First I found my best friend fondling my baby brother on my own bed—

Regulus: Don’t say fondle, Sirius

Sirius: And now I know you took my brother, my precious brother’s flower! How could you? We’re supposed to be best friends!

James: We’re still best friends!

Sirius: YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY HIM!

Regulus: What?

Sirius: That’s right. You have to take responsibility and you have to marry my baby brother! Get on your knees, Prongs. I will make this wedding happen right now!

Regulus: Sirius, are you insane? What are you talki—James, stand up! Do not kneel down!

James: I’M SO CONFUSED!

[daddiesdrarryy]

Sirius: What’s your resolution for New Year, guys? You start first, Reggie

Regulus: I don’t got one

Sirius: None?

Regulus: Well, I’d like to be invited less to your lame parties with your friends

Sirius: Impossible. And my parties are cool. Prongs?

James: I wanna ask someone I like out

Sirius: Oh, really? You’re finally asking Lily out?

James: No, no, not her

Sirius: Well who is it then? Do I know them?

James: …that’s a very tricky question you’re asking, Pads

Sirius: Come on, what? Who is it? Moony, you know who Prongs is talking about?

Remus: …why don’t you talk about your resolution, Wormtail?

Peter: Oh, yeah, sure, I’d like to eat more vegetables, if I can

Sirius: That’s very healthy, Peter. Why don’t you tell me who it is, Prongs?

James: Pads, it’s no big deal

Sirius: You’re hiding something, aren’t you? You’re all pink

James: I’m not!

Sirius: Who is it? Is it some—oh Merlin, is it one of us? Is that why you can’t say it? You have a crush on someone here?

James: …

Sirius: Oh, no, is it—is it me?

James: What? No! No! Not you, I swear

Sirius: Okay, okay good, I’m slightly offended, but good. Who is it?

James: I’m not gonna tell you, Pads

Sirius: This is so unfair, it’s New Year, we gotta let go of all the secrets, Prongs. Who do you got a crush on?

Sirius: It isn’t me. So Moony?

James: …

Sirius: Wormtail?

James: …

Sirius: My Reggie?

James: Pads—

Sirius: Oh God, it’s Reg? You-you got a crush on my little brother? Regulus? My BROTHER? REGGIE?

Remus: James, run!

[daddiesdrarryy]

Sirius: Reg! What are you doing here?

Regulus: This is where James and I are meeting for our date. So, what do you think of this outfit?

Sirius: Well, I don’t like it

Regulus: Really?

Sirius: It’s kinda slutty

Regulus: It’s yours

Sirius: ...Yeah well, I’m a slut

Regulus: Me too!

[daddiesdrarryy]

Sirius: Reggie, are you dating someone?

Regulus: What?

Sirius: You’ve been sneaking out every night, giggling while reading your letters. Are you?

Regulus: …okay, yeah, I’m dating someone

Sirius: Why haven’t I met him yet? I wanna see the guy who manages to get my brother! Surely I’m going to like him!

Regulus: Yeah, no doubt you will

Sirius: Really? Who is this guy? Do I know him?

Regulus: Some would say even better than I do

Sirius: That’s brilliant...but, you’re not dating Moony right?

Regulus: Oh, no, don’t worry about that

Sirius: Oh, okay

Regulus: I’m dating James

Sirius: I’m sorry, what?

Regulus: I’m dating James

Sirius: No, I heard you the first time. James…as in James Potter? James Potter, my best friend? That James?

Regulus: Yes, we’ve been going out for six months now

Sirius: WITHOUT TELLING ME?

Regulus: Sirius, it’s not that big of a deal—

Sirius: Did he deflower you?

Regulus: What? Sirius—

Sirius: Did my best friend in the whole wide world deflower my dear younger brother or did he not, Regulus?

Regulus: I...okay, yes, we did—wait! Where are you going? No—put your wand down! Sirius—stop!

[daddiesdrarryy]

Sirius: Wow, this is a really nice place, guys

James: Yeah, and here’s the nursery, that’s our bedroom

Sirius: Oh, hey, what’s that on your bed?

Regulus: Sirius, it’s nothing—

Sirius: Is this handcuffs?

James: …no

Sirius: It’s handcuffs

James: Okay, yes, but we didn’t use it

Sirius: It’s on your bed, and you—your wrists are bruised, Reggie

Regulus: …I tripped

Sirius: And got bruises around your wrists?

Regulus: Yes

Sirius: Do you think I’m dumb?

James: Okay, we did use it, only once so far, and Reg was only cuffed so I can give him a strip tease with scarves, and then after—

Regulus: James…my brother doesn’t need to know about our sex life. What we do in the bedroom is our thing, Sirius, even if James gave me a naked dance with a scarf on

Sirius: …I can’t verbally explain how disturbing that is to me

James: Which part? The handcuffs or the dance with the scar—

Sirius: EVERYTHING!

[daddiesdrarryy]

Regulus: You know, James, I was thinking. You know how we always stay at your dorm? Well, I thought maybe tonight we'd stay at my dorm

James: I don't know, I don't have my jammies

Regulus: Well…maybe you don't need them

Sirius: ...My baby brother, ladies and gentlemen

[daddiesdrarryy]

Regulus: Mary, come sign this birthday card for Sirius. James is gonna be here any minute

Mary: Oooh, James is going to the party too, huh?

Regulus: Well, he's my brother's best friend, he has to be there

Dorcas: Oh, is today the day you're gonna tell Sirius about you two?

Regulus: Yeah. It's my brother’s birthday and I decided to give him a stroke