Remus
“I worry about Sirius. He’s so wonderful but I hurt knowing he’s been hurt in the past, by not only myself but others as well. I wonder if he’s planning this ball to prove to everyone he’s still here? As if to say ‘look I’m important’.” I lamented to Reggie during his monthly visit.
“I was the same way, it takes time. Eventually he’s going to be this loud and happy man who’s so excited he won’t ever shut up. He’s a good man who’s been dealt a crap hand in life.” He advised while cleaning out a rather harsh cut I had gained the night before.
“Reggie, did he tell you the dates for the ball, all three of them?” I groaned as he hit a worse spot in the cut. “They fall on the waxing gibbous, full, and waning gibbous moons. I’ll be out of order for two of the three nights.”
“I’ll stay behind and watch over the ball, you said you have a mask, why don’t you build a mantle and set it behind my throne. If anyone wants to question your location they have to look at me to point at the mask. No one will bother. It will be a powerful move, to remark that you are always watching.” He took a thin needle out and started to sew the cut shut, I let out a very unhappy growl.
“Fucker warning.” I caught my breath. “That could work, and Lily and James will leave your side? I know Peter will have no issues leaving his husbands, but I feel if we are to abandon our dates it may be weird for those from other kingdoms or tons.”
“J'emmerde ton avertissement. Anyways, yes I will let them leave their husband for one night. Barty and Evan can deal without Peter for one single night, and I’m sure Sirius will understand your absence if you tell him you had medical issues the last two nights. He is very understanding.” I rolled my eyes at the king.
“Ton frère est un vrai idiot.” I made my point. He gave me a sharp glare before making sure the next stitch hurt. “Fuck you, fucking asshole!”
“I’d rather you not fuck me Remus. I’ll leave that to my husband, and his wonderful.” I cut him off by covering his mouth quickly. He scrunched up his face and I felt something warm and wet on my hand.
“You licked me!” I screamed tugging my hand away from him. He smiled before returning to sewing me back up. “I tried to change his mind on the dates, he insisted they were the most magical nights so we had to use them. One thing is certain, Sirius is damn determined. He gets what he wants.”
“Oh? So that means you two have slept together? Shocker, seeing as you still act like a damn puppy when you see him.” He gave me this look that said ‘don’t fool yourself’.
“No, I’m planning to officially ask him out after the ball. I want to court him properly, and of course there’s the legal matters of a Duke and technically a commoner.” I sighed in relief when the stitching was done and cool gauze was wrapped around my torso.
“I’ll handle the legal end, you just make sure you actually court my brother. I trust you a lot Remus, and as I said last time if you hurt him again, I will strip you of everything.” His eyes darkened as he scooted back on the floor. He was definitely a scary king.
“I solemnly swear I will do my best to make sure Sirius is loved, spoiled, and under my utter devotion. I want him to feel like the prince he used to be, but loved a whole lot more.” I tried to sit up, carefully watching where I had cut my side open.
“Did I ever tell you what it was like, living in that castle?” Regulus moved to sit across from me on one of the chairs. He clasped his hands and gave me a sad look. I remembered slightly that he had mentioned them living like servants but he never went into details.
“You two were raised like servants right? You had to earn your lives as princes, but you’ve never explained in detail what it was like. I only know the basics.” The door to my office opened and I heard the soft padding of my son’s feet. He looked tired and sad, and it hurt me to know he could tell I was hurt without seeing me.
“Mother and Father never knew how to express love. Mother tried, or at least liked to give off the illusion of trying. Sirius was very verbal, he was loud and just relatively not what my parents wanted in the heir. It started with small punishments for us both when we were younger.” He paused looking at Teddy who had silently crawled into my arms, avoiding the gauze.
“Simple things like one less meal, one more chore, less time to sleep, or one less object in our rooms. I managed to keep my dresser and bed, by the time Sirius was twelve he was sleeping only five or six hours a night on stone floors. And we weren’t allowed to sleep in the normal bedrooms either, never had been. We both got small rooms in the further corner of the castle where we were raised to eventually earn that room, that warmth and comfort.” He continued, a tear started to fall down his cheek.
“I wondered why he looked shocked to be able to have his bedroom here. I figured with how he was dressed and that he was your brother he would have been used to rooms far larger. I know that’s not the case now obviously but still.” I brushed my hands through my son's hair.
“He became homeless as I’m sure you’re aware, that was when he was sixteen, after that I’m unaware if they ever moved him out of his room. Though it seemed more like a cell, I’ve seen the cells we have in our castle. I'm sure yours are about the same. They are far better than what we lived in.” He heard James laughing rather loudly growing closer, and a smaller giggle from someone I could only assume was Harry.
“What about when you two got older, when the punishments changed? I’ve seen the scars, when did they start cursing you? Sirius showed up that night twitching which means they cursed him at least.” James peeked his head in and saw Teddy in my arms before giving a small nod and stepping inside the office before he shut the door behind himself.
“After they couldn’t take anything else from him. He was about three, they hit him for the first time, but that left physical marks. They used Imperio on him at the start, to control him and everything he did. Thought it was better than punishments so they used it on me as well. Sirius broke out of it after a year or two, I don’t remember, I just know I was turning fourteen when they stopped using it on me.” James’s happy expression sullened when he realized what the conversation was about.
“You two talking about life at abuse castle?” James tried to joke as he wedged himself next to his husband. Reggie moved and half sat on James’s lap while taking Harry into his arms.
“I’m trying to understand Sirius a bit better, to know what he came from so I can court him and do it properly. Turns out I was in the dark, by a lot.” I lifted Teddy's head so he could look at me and stuck my tongue out causing him to laugh.
“Regulus took a while to get better after his escape from castle Toujours Pur. It took me about a year before he trusted me enough not to curse him, and that was before our plan to fake a scandal. So you have to understand that we have no idea how Sirius feels, or what he’s been through in the last eighteen years since Reggie left.” James hummed.
“Yes. Right after Imperio stopped working mother decided Cruico worked wonders to keep Sirius quiet for hours. Used it on me to make sure I didn’t copy his ‘mistakes’. She used it on me last when she learned we had been caught making love behind that shed at one of her balls.” Reggie pulled Harry closer to his chest and kissed the boy's forehead.
“Right, when that pastor found James with his hand down your pants and you were kneeling?” I quipped before a small quill was chucked at me. Reggie had this teasing smile while James was as red as he could get.
“I didn’t know they would disown me as well, but I was happy to see them bring Sirius back off the streets. After that, when I saw him on my wedding day, he barely said a word to me and he looked so sick. Until that night he came to us, I hadn’t heard about him in those eighteen years.” Reggie admitted.
“So no one knows what went on under that roof, but him, and he doesn’t like to talk about it. I hope one day I can change that. I want to be the reason he’s undeniably happy, and a reason he smiles. But first is to get him to open up, and for this dreaded ball.” I groaned as both the kings nodded in agreement.