Summary: After your family abandons you for falling in love with Regulus, the two of you are on your own until it comes time to deflect to the other side. Now that certain secrets are out and you are forced to be under James’ watchful gaze it’s time to determine if family ties can ever be once again fully mended.
It was another Tuesday. Another order meeting that so many members felt was becoming pointless. It felt as if they were getting nowhere and Voldemort was getting more ahead with each passing day.
“We have some good news for once.”
Moody grumbled as everyone took their seats. No one dared to say anything for a moment as “good news” did not happen often. It seemed bad news was all that any member of the order was entitled to. Dorcas had been killed a week before and was laid to rest the day before the current meeting.
“Do I dare ask what kind of good news are being privy to?”
Sirius asked. He didn’t want to bury another childhood friend. Hell, he didn’t want to bury anybody but funeral and burial seemed like just another occurrence….and he hated it. Moody nodded curtly as he leaned back in his chair.
“It seems Voldemort is taking up some darker magic than we expected…”
“Well, that sure is some good news.”
James grumbled from his place beside Lily. Moody shot him a dark look before continuing.
“If you lot can keep your opinions to yourself for a moment that would be great. As I was saying, Voldemort has apparently taken up making Horcruxes.”
No one in the order made a pleased as punch face upon hearing this information. Sirius leaned back in his chair muttering a quiet “fuck.” He wasn’t sure how Moody considered this good news but here they were.
“With this knowledge, we at least have a method of getting on upon him. I currently have someone working on tracking and a method of destroying the shit.”
Moody continued. James poked a hand up. He wasn’t about to interrupt Moody twice in one night and get hexed.
“How exactly do we know this is happening and who is working on this?”
Moody leaned back in his chair. He knew the next few moments were going to be some of the tensest moments in some time.
“We have someone from Voldemort’s side on our side now.”
No one dared say anything for a moment. Someone deflecting from the death eaters was unheard of. No one was brave enough to. It would have been suicide.
“Dare I ask who it is?”
Marlene commented. Moody stood up and walked to the door. The room was silent as the grave until the moment Regulus Black stepped in with you at his side. James, Sirius, and Lily’s mouths dropped. This was the last thing they EVER expected to happen! The last time that James had spoken to you was the night that you told him that you loved Regulus and were marrying him. After one hell of an argument, James said that he would never speak to you again and you replied with a “fine if that is what you want.” Now here you stood looking just as you had the last time that James laid eyes on you.
“How can we trust them?”
Marlene snapped. Moody turned to the nervous-looking young woman.
“Because I don’t think if Regulus handing over a Horcrux would have happened.”
“He gave you one?”
Sirius commented. He was surprised that his own voice worked. Seeing his little brother in the same room was a bundle of emotions. Sirius was going between furious, heartbroken, and thrilled.
“Yes, I gave him one.”
Regulus said in his neat as a pin eerily calm voice. Moody motioned to the chairs at the table as Regulus wrapped one hand around yours and limped to the seats. Sirius watched quietly a moment before curiosity got the better of him.
“What happened to you?”
Regulus’ cold eyes rolled up to his brother. This would be the first time that the two brothers had spoken in years.
“I almost had my leg ripped off by an inferi trying to get the Horcrux. I don’t recommend it.”
Sirius sat back in his chair as the realization that Regulus was the one that discovered the Horcrux hit home. It wasn’t just him learning information. Regulus had put the puzzle together and gone after the cursed item himself.
You sat quietly at Regulus’ side. When stepping into the room, you glanced at your older brother for a brief moment before looking away. Seeing James was yet another painful reminder of being abandoned because you fell in love with the wrong boy.
“Why would you want to help us?”
Marlene asked, genuinely curious. It had been no secret to the order that Regulus Black was a death eater. In fact, it was information that nearly sent Sirius around the twist when he found out. It had taken James, Remus, and Lily to convince him to not go after his brother and shake some sense into him.
“Because you lot have no idea what you are dealing with nor do you know what you are getting yourselves into. Right now, everyone is grabbing something of value and heading for the hills. If you want to stop Voldemort then this is the way….this is the only way. You can believe what I’m telling you or don’t…it will be your funeral.”
Regulus commented as James turned to you.
“Y/n, is he telling the truth?”
“We wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t.”
You replied. It felt strange talking to James. Hearing him say your name was thrilling yet painful at the same time. It made you feel, if even for a brief moment, as you had as a child. You had an older brother who loved you and wanted to see you do well in life.
“I don’t know why you would bother asking me though. I’m as bad as he is…in your eyes.”
You added. Regulus’ eyes flickered to you. The two of you were in agreement that neither party wanted to be involved with the order. Neither of you wanted to deal with the questioning and judgmental gazes but this was the only choice that you had. This was the only way to get rid of a madman that no one would have the knowledge of knowing how to kill.
James meanwhile ran a hand over his face.
“That’s not true.”
Regulus turned his attention to James. He would have been fine with going over and kicking James in the face or hexing him to kingdom come. Regulus had been the one that cared for you the past few years. He had been the one to see you go through inner hell because your family wanted nothing to do with you any longer. It had all been him. Now here sat big-headed James-fucking-Potter acting as if he were some typical older brother and was talking to you as if it were any other day.
James wasn’t there when you didn’t get an invitation to his and Lily’s wedding. He wasn’t there when you read the birth announcement in the Daily Prophet about their kid’s birth and cried for days. That was all Regulus. He was going to make god damn sure that James never hurt you again.
“Denial at its finest.”
Regulus commented. James turned to Regulus.
“What are you talking about, Black?”
Regulus shrugged before sneering at James.
“Denial is not just a river in Egypt, Potter. You haven’t spoken to your sister in years. None of you have. You call yourself friends? None of you have had anything to do with Y/n from the moment that she agreed to marry me. If you were any kind of brother, you would have dealt with it because I make your sister happy. With friends like the lot of you who honestly needs enemies.”
You wrapped your hand around Regulus’. The last thing that you wanted for him at the moment was to get too worked up. Since the incident with the inferi, Regulus’ had been permanently injured. His legs had never healed properly and he seemed weakened by the position that he was forced to drink. Since the incident, you had taken it upon yourself to care for him. Regulus had cared for you when you had no one; now it was your time to be the good wife and make sure he was well cared for in return.
James meanwhile was staring at the two of you with wide eyes. He wanted to make a comment. James wanted to call Regulus a sister stealing git who turned her to the dark side but he didn’t. Partially because Lily was squeezing his hand so tightly that he was about to lose circulation and also if he wanted to make any progress with you smarting off to your husband would probably be a shitty way to start.
“Okay, let’s just stop. We are all on the same side. Yeah, we have questions but insulting each other is getting nowhere.”
Remus commented from his place at Sirius’ side. Sirius had seemingly forgotten about his ability to speak as he stared at Regulus.
“He’s right. I don’t have the ambition to listen to family drama.”
Moody grumbled before continuing the meeting as if nothing happened. As far as Moody was concerned, the lot of you could work out your own issues when he was no longer there.
Once the meeting was over Moody turned to Remus.
“Sirius and yourself are to keep an eye on them.”
Regulus raised an eyebrow as Remus shrugged. Remus was not about to argue with Moody. It would get him nowhere.
“Keep an eye on us?”
Moody nodded coldly.
“You heard me right. I’m not saying that we don’t trust you but we don’t trust you. You have to earn that. The Horcrux is a good place to start but you both have a long way to go.”
Regulus clenched his jaw as all of the order members minus James, Lily, Remus, Sirius, and yourself sat at the table. Moody turned on his way to the door.
“Fix your shit and get over it. We don’t have time for family drama.”
No one said a word for a few moments. It was as if everyone was just waiting for someone else to say a word. Finally, Sirius decided to say something.
“So the inferi tried to turn you into a pretzel?”
Regulus raised an eyebrow. He wanted to say that he was happy to see his older brother but he wasn’t. Regulus was still bitter at Sirius for choosing the Potters over him. Leaving him in the horror house known as Grimmauld Place with expectations that Regulus never wanted was a poor way to be left.
“Something like that.”
Regulus replied. A silence fell over the room again.
“How’s mum and dad?”
Sirius asked. Regulus rolled his eyes for the 100th time.
“Mum is insane as always and dad is dead.”
“You seem so bothered.”
James muttered. Regulus turned to James with a dark look.
“We don’t all have lovely cozy relationships with our parents, Potter. Some of us have to deal with abuse and unfortunate abandonment. When dad had his heart attack that was another peaceful moment for me.”
Sirius winced. He knew that Regulus and Orion never had a great relationship. Regulus was the son that Orion never wanted and Orion was the father that Regulus was forced to deal with.
“What happened to him?”
Sirius asked. He had never heard exactly what happened to his father. There was an obituary (Where Sirius of course wasn’t mentioned) but no cause of death listed.
“He had a heart attack playing golf.”
Regulus replied. He couldn’t help but smirk at the look of confusion on his elder brother’s face. This was probably the last thing that Sirius ever expected to hear. In Regulus’ mind, Sirius was probably expecting Walbruga to poison him. That’s what Regulus would have thought would be the cause of Orion Black’s death if he wasn’t involved with the family any longer.
“I’m sorry but golf? Like muggle golf? Dad did realize that was a muggle thing right?”
Sirius question, feeling beyond confused. Regulus again nodded as if this was no weird conversation. To Regulus, this was just facts.
“I can’t say why he was investing time in that hobby. Mother thinks it has something to do with some skirt he was chasing. Anyway, there was a swan that dad thought looked at him weird….”
Sirius couldn’t help it but he started laughing interrupting Regulus.
“Merlin help me…a swan? What?”
Regulus blinked coldly.
“Yes, a swan. Apparently, it honked at him and dad decided to whack it with the golf club except his plan backfired. He had a heart attack and the swan lived.”
Sirius couldn’t help the laughter that came out of him. This was possibly the funniest thing that he had heard in some time. Even with Regulus, being as inanimate as inanimate could be, it was the funniest thing that Sirius had heard.
“Damn, all of those years mum spent trying to kill him and he was offed by a swan.”
Regulus wished that he could have laughed. He wished that he could have said that he found it amusing (because it was) but he couldn’t. Regulus couldn’t bring himself to show too much emotion around the people in front of him. Maybe in time, when he learned to trust them, he could but for now, all of his walls were up.
“We would like to be shown to a room. While this conversation has been amusing, Y/n and I are both tired.”
Lily got up quickly.
“We have a guest room upstairs. Dinner should be ready in an hour or so.”
Your heart ached to look at Lily and hear her voice. She had been the sister-in-law that you had always wanted. Hearing her talk brought back the same old wounds as hearing James and Sirius’ voices.
“Thank you.”
You replied as Regulus stood up. Neither of you said another word before leaving the room. Maybe in the coming months, you would find a way to heal old wounds but today was not that day.
The moment the bedroom door closed behind you, Regulus limped to the bed and sat down. You moved to sit beside him.
“Well, here we are.”
You said, keeping your voice down.
“Yes, here we are. Do you hate this as badly as I do? I feel like all of their eyes are upon us like a herd of wild jackals and we are the prey.”
You moved to sit on Regulus’ lap. Snuggling your face against his shoulder, you wanted to disagree. You wanted to say that they were just being careful and everything would smooth out but you couldn’t. Neither of you knew how long this feeling of “being under the microscope” would last. It could be a week, a month, a year, or even the rest of eternity.
“I hate it too, Reggie. I suppose we should get used to being looked at the way we were because it isn’t going to stop until they trust us.”
“Which could be the 12th of never.”
Regulus grumbled. He was again quiet a moment before focusing his attention on your pretty face. Regulus hated seeing you look so down and depressed. He hated it even more that he was the cause you were this way. If he hadn’t agreed to be a death eater, you would never had lost contact with your family. You would never have had to feel so alone and abandoned…but here the two of you were.
“Do you regret it?”
He asked. You frowned turning to look at your husband curiously.
“Regret coming here? We didn’t really have a…”
“No, Y/n. Do you ever regret marrying me? You could have had something different. Your family would have never done you the way that they did.”
You quickly leaned forward and pressed your lips to Regulus’ silencing him for a moment. When you leaned back he gave you a small smile that he reserved only for you.
“Regulus, I regret nothing. I married you because I love you. I’m exactly where I want to be…well maybe not in this room being judged by our siblings but I’m with you. If I didn’t want to marry you then I would have said no. As far as my family…I suppose it shows that the Potters aren’t so damn perfect after all. They made their choice just as I made mine….and I don’t regret anything.”
Regulus nodded before leaning forward and kissing you again.
“I’m sure all of this will end up alright…somehow. Your safety is worth being stuck in a house full of idiots that I despise. Maybe it doesn’t have to be so horrible. We’ll keep to ourselves and mind our own business.”
You moved to make sure the door was locked before pulling your dress over your head to change.
“Minding our own business is a great idea. Let’s see how long it takes one of us to go off on the lot of them. I say a day.”
Regulus raised an eyebrow before smirking.
“You are more generous than I am, love. I say an hour.”
You moved to join Regulus back on the bed.
“At least we have each other.”
Regulus wrapped a hand around yours and squeezed gently.
Summary: After your family abandons you for falling in love with Regulus, the two of you are on your own until it comes time to deflect to the other side. Now that certain secrets are out and you are forced to be under James’ watchful gaze it’s time to determine if family ties can ever be once again fully mended.
It was another Tuesday. Another order meeting that so many members felt was becoming pointless. It felt as if they were getting nowhere and Voldemort was getting more ahead with each passing day.
“We have some good news for once.”
Moody grumbled as everyone took their seats. No one dared to say anything for a moment as “good news” did not happen often. It seemed bad news was all that any member of the order was entitled to. Dorcas had been killed a week before and was laid to rest the day before the current meeting.
“Do I dare ask what kind of good news are being privy to?”
Sirius asked. He didn’t want to bury another childhood friend. Hell, he didn’t want to bury anybody but funeral and burial seemed like just another occurrence….and he hated it. Moody nodded curtly as he leaned back in his chair.
“It seems Voldemort is taking up some darker magic than we expected…”
“Well, that sure is some good news.”
James grumbled from his place beside Lily. Moody shot him a dark look before continuing.
“If you lot can keep your opinions to yourself for a moment that would be great. As I was saying, Voldemort has apparently taken up making Horcruxes.”
Defence Against the Dark Arts • dɪˈfɛns|əˈɡɛnst|ðə|dɑːk|ɑːtsɛ • The study and teaching of how to defend against dark: magic; spells; curses or animals.
IMAGINE how annoying it must be to be from a different house during the marauders era. like I bet gryffindor has SO many inside jokes about them and their pranks that they just be screaming in the corridors about and the other houses were probably like
- never sleeps at night but always sleeping during the day
- you will never catch this boy awake in history of magic
- used to chain smoke but when he started dating lily, he stopped because he knew she didn’t like the smell of it
- sirius stopped smoking as well because he didn’t want to tempt james into smoking again
- bisexual king
- until the day he died, he would’ve been completely fine marrying sirius and even in the afterlife
- literally has the BEST friendship with sirius it’s not even funny like everybody is so jealous
- mother hen :’)
- since he never sleeps at night, he’s always awake at the crack of dawn and is always waking the boys up with him
- “if i don’t see feet on the ground in thirty seconds, i’m opening the curtains!’
- “don’t you make me count to three, mister!”
- “sirius get out of the bathroom, peter needs to pee and he can’t hold it anymore” “you didn’t have to tell him that james!” “we’re all men here, peter, grow up and learn how to tell people you need to pee”
- super smart
- loves the library but refuses to admit that he does
- once quoted shakespeare at lily and later, she told him it was one of the reasons she fell in love with him
- actually has really good sportsmanship
- like of course he gets super butthurt when he loses anything but he makes sure to tell the other player or players that they did a good job
- literally the nicest asshole you’ll ever meet
- like he’ll hit your books out of your hands and then help you pick them up
- resorts to physical violence because “it gets the job done faster moony don’t lecture me”
- has punched snape before but only because he called sirius privileged and james was not having it
- has a toad at home
- never told anybody about the toad (her name is cecilia and he loves her very much) so when sirius moved in and saw the toad vibing on his window sill, he flipped his shit
- cecilia pees on sirius every time he picks her up but it never stops him
- james is sure sirius loves cecilia more than he himself does
- when remus and peter find out about cecilia, they also flip their shit
- cecilia becomes the marauders mascot
- lily finds out halfway through seventh year that they have a mascot and it’s a toad named cecilia and teases them endlessly about it
- also has a cat at home
- his name is sandwich (james named him when he was four) and he’s best friends with cecilia
- the potter family owl is named odessa (james calls her dessy) and she hates james but james loves her
- he had a crush on regulus in his fifth year and never told a soul. remus knew but didn’t say anything
- his friendship with remus :’)
- it was his idea to become animagi (he read about it in a book) and it was also his idea for the map
- he did a lot of the charm work on the map
- there were a lot of ‘hypothetical’ questions for flitwick during this time period and flitwick was all too happy to answer them
- took ancient runes and arithmancy from third year to seventh and made an O in both
- took divination in third year with sirius, remus, and peter but he was the hermione in that group
- while remus, sirius, and peter were like ‘alright i can dig it’ with divination, james was getting SO heated about it
- for the remainder of their school career, he made sure to tell them all the flaws in divination at any chance he could
- lily was super into divination, though, just because she thought it was really interesting and there were too many instances of it being real to be counted as coincidences, and james literally almost imploded when he found this out
- when they heard the prophecy for the first time, james literally stood up and left lmao
- “i’m not believing some bullshit prophecy that tells me my son has to die at the hands of voldemort, lily!” “what if it’s not bullshit” “are you fucking shitting me right now lily”
- only agreed to go into hiding for lily
- also took care of magical creatures from third to seventh year and also made an O in that
- when they learned about unicorns, the unicorn looked at all the girls in the class and then trotted past and stood in front of james
- james never stopped gloating about this ever
- “sorry what was that? i couldn’t hear you over the sound of being trusted by a unicorn” “a unicorn trusted me minnie why would i ever break the rules like that”
- didn’t actually mind slytherins
- was almost one himself and def wouldn’t have made a huge deal about it because euphemia was a slytherin when she went to hogwarts and he knew they weren’t all bad
- the only reason he never styled his hair was because his dad invented sleekeazy’s. that’s it, that’s the only reason. he did it to spite his dad.
- momma’s boy !!!
- until the day euphemia died, james was not embarrassed to hold her hand as they crossed the street and tell her he loved her
- could not fathom a world without his mother so when she died, he shut down for a good month and a half
- used to actually be afraid to curse
- said his first swear word in fifth year and never looked back
- “what the fiddlesticks” “for the love of all that is holy, just say fuck”
- “f-f-” “yes, you can do it” “i’m nervous”
- fleamont found out that he smoked when he was in his sixth year and he ripped him an entirely new asshole before pulling out his own cigarette and lighting it
- cannot hold his alcohol
- was drunk by the third butterbeer
- was destined to be the chill dad because his dad wasn’t
- yes you heard that right. euphemia was the chill parent. fucking deal with it.
- was an amazing liar purely because of fleamont
- like this boy could lie straight out of his ass the second he learned how to talk
- “james fleamont potter did you break this vase” “didn’t I tell you, dad? the manor’s got a poltergeist!” “we do?!”
- the manor did have a poltergeist but he didn’t know that at the time
- humble rich kid
- his house is huge but so is his heart
- sirius found out his middle name was fleamont when he moved in because fleamont yelled his full name SO often
- james hates that sirius knows his middle name
- sirius loves that he knows james’ middle name
- sirius and sandwich the cat have a silent feud going on that james fuels by privately telling both of them that they’re his favorite
- his actual favorite is cecilia
this got super long but still, feel free to add your own weird james headcanons!
oh my god. i want a marauders era anime. This way we don’t have to risk the actors not looking right, anime is BEAUTIFUL, the magic would look amazing, romance anime’s are just immaculate. like Jilys relationship in anime form??? GIVE IT TO ME
Ok so here in Italy the day that lockdown was announced people made harry potter trending on twitter so now they are broadcasting it on tv and I may have got a little nostalgic
James is a wizard; Lily is a muggle. Magical folks don’t meet muggles, not on purpose. And yet, even with the war on the rise, they impossibly become pen pals.
-
Lily could hear James’ teeth clattering over the phone.
This was the weekly struggle she had; talking to James knowing that he stood in an uncomfortable ice box while she sat in warmth and comfort in her living room. Currently, a thick wooly blanket that had been in her family since before she was born was bunched over her lap. A steamy mug of hot cocoa sat on the table in front of her, the sight of which Lily tried her best to ignore because it felt rude to even have as James swore his way into believing he was fine.
His whispered swears, of “Merlin’s balls, it’s cold…” and “fuck, fuck, what’s a nose?” made her want to smile in amusement but he sounded more than a little miserable.
“James,” she said, trying to sound practical rather than guilty. “If it’s too cold…”
“What? Nah, I’m fine.” Something rustled, banged— he cursed his elbow and the glass door now— then he muttered something she couldn’t make out. He let out a sound of relief a moment later and then something else rustled like a long sigh and he said, “much better.”
James is a wizard; Lily is a muggle. Magical folks don’t meet muggles, not on purpose. And yet, even with the war on the rise, they impossibly become pen pals.
-
Lily could hear James’ teeth clattering over the phone.
This was the weekly struggle she had; talking to James knowing that he stood in an uncomfortable ice box while she sat in warmth and comfort in her living room. Currently, a thick wooly blanket that had been in her family since before she was born was bunched over her lap. A steamy mug of hot cocoa sat on the table in front of her, the sight of which Lily tried her best to ignore because it felt rude to even have as James swore his way into believing he was fine.
His whispered swears, of “Merlin’s balls, it’s cold…” and “fuck, fuck, what’s a nose?” made her want to smile in amusement but he sounded more than a little miserable.
“James,” she said, trying to sound practical rather than guilty. “If it’s too cold…”
“What? Nah, I’m fine.” Something rustled, banged— he cursed his elbow and the glass door now— then he muttered something she couldn’t make out. He let out a sound of relief a moment later and then something else rustled like a long sigh and he said, “much better.”
Everything’s gonna be fine and no one’s gonna get betrayed or die or be alone and suffer and be abused and wish they had friends and a family LMAO CAN YOU IMAGINE? THAT WOULD BE H O R R I B L E - WHO WOULD EVER THINK OF SUCH A THING???
Sirius might not do this physically… but he does mentally…? This is… uwu Everything that matters to him <3
