James Potter opened the door to his new house in Godric’s Hollow on an early windy evening. He was expecting his best friends Sirius and Remus who they were supposed to have dinner with. After which Mary and Peter who were already in the house would leave and let Sirius and Remus take over until they did the switch again for breakfast. They always changed shifts at dinner and breakfast so they could all eat together.
But it wasn’t Sirius or Remus who looked back at him when he opened the door that day. It was Regulus Black. He looked thinner than the last time they saw each other shortly before the war actually broke out. He also looked like he had been beaten up rather harshly. A lot of emotions crossed over James’ face before he settled on a blank expression and raised his wand. He also noticed Pandora Rosier standing slightly behind Regulus. James knew he had to be vigilant. He stepped outside closing the door behind him.
“Reg. I’m really sorry but I have to make sure it’s actually you.” They had agreed to not keep in contact during the war except for in an emergency. This did not help the dread James was starting to feel. “What was the first gift I ever gave you?”
For a split second a small smile crossed over Regulus’ face “A pebble. You found it on the beach during a holiday. It was really smooth, and you told me to hold it in my hand when I was feeling overwhelmed.” Instantly James grabbed Regulus pulled him into a hug.
Regulus couldn’t help but wince slightly from pain, which made James immediately let go.
“Oh shit! Reg, I’m an idiot. You’re hurt. What happened?”
“Listen James we don’t have much time. I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?” Regulus said looking directly into James eyes.
Without a moment of hesitation James answered “Of course!”
“Is Peter Pettigrew inside of the house?”
“Yes, he is in the living room with Mary and Lily we are waiting for Remus and Sirius.”
“Okay good. Is there anyone else inside?”
“No”
“Okay good. I need you to go ahead and as soon as you enter the living room you need to disarm Pettigrew. Once he is disarmed, me and Pandora will do the rest.” he turned to Pandora “Panda, I need you to shield Lily. Mary too if you can.” Pandora nodded with a serious expression on her face. The fleeting thought occurred to James that during all their time at Hogwarts he had never seen that expression on her face. “James! You cannot give him even a second to react. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Good then let’s go before anyone gets suspicious.”
They moved fast after that. Regulus and Pandora entered the house behind James who led them to the living room. He entered the room and instantly disarmed Peter. With Peters wand in his hand, he stepped aside for Regulus. Pandora had already positioned herself between Lily and Peter. Before anyone could even say something Regulus rapidly fired a combination of dark and light spells at Peter that knocked him back into a chair which in turn sprouted vines that held onto his hands and feet as well as his neck so he lost all mobility. He was then gagged before the last spell knocked him unconscious.
Regulus then turned slightly to James still keeping his eyes and wand trained at Peter.
“James can you give me his wand please?” He said extending his other arm back.
James gave him the wand without hesitation and Regulus just broke it in two.
That was the scene that Remus and Sirius walked into wands immediately raised they as well as Mary and Lily seemed confused and like they weren’t quite sure who to aim at.
James noticed Regulus slightly repositioning himself between James everyone else in the room. He seemed to communicate without words with Pandora who moved closer to Peter.
“James? What’s going on?” he heard Sirius voice.
“I’m honestly not quite sure yet Padfoot.”
Sirius then seemed to make a decision and aimed his wand at Regulus and James.
“Reggie what was the last thing I said to our mother before I left?”
“Tourjour pur? I’d rather be tourjour sucking dick.”
“Ha that’s right. I’m still kind of proud of that one ey? Okay James? Is Lily having a boy or a girl?”
Regulus whole body when stiff after that question.
“Trick question Pads! Lily is not actually pregnant. What song do you want to dance to at your wedding?”
“Easy! Moonage daydream.” Sirius grinned and looked at Remus while they both started to relax.
“Okay now that I know it’s actually you care to explain what is going on?”
At that Regulus face turned serious again.
“Not here! It’s not safe. We need to leave, then we will explain everything.”
“It’s Peter, isn’t it?” Remus spoke for the first time looking at Regulus. “The spy I mean.”
“Yes.”
That confirmation gave them all sullen expressions.
“Were can we go? Peter was the secret keeper for this place. I assume it’s compromised?” Lily asked Regulus.
“It is. I am the secret keeper for Pandora’s place so I can side along you there.”
“Okay, then let’s not waste time. You probably have to do more than one trip.”
“Correct. I’ll take James and Pettigrew first. Pandora can get there by herself. Then I’ll return and take you in pairs of two.” Everyone except James nodded. Lily was already in action mode summoning their ready bags.
“No Reg I’m not going first. You should take Lily and Mary with you.” James tried to protest.
Regulus looked at James with a pained expression on his face. “James, I don't have to strength not to be selfish right now. I need you to be save.”
“And we do not have the time to argue about this Prongs just do as he says we’ll be fine.” Remus agreed.
James wanted to resist but he knew Remus was right, he let himself be guided to the chair Peter was sitting on by Regulus who wasted no time and as soon he had both James hand in one hand and was grabbing the chair with the other he apparete them. They landed inside of another living room. The furniture was a lot more colorful, but it looked nice and homely. James saw Pandora appear on Regulus other side. He nodded to her and then disappeared again.
“Come on James, you can help me bring him to the room Regulus set up.” Pandora looked at him with a smile. “I’m garbage at levitation spells so if you wouldn’t mind.”
In the back of his head James knew she was lying she hadn’t been in Ravenclaw for nothing but he appreciated her giving him a task to focus on while his friends were being transported. He followed Pandora to a small door that led to a basement. Peter floating between them they made their way down the stairs. The room looked like a mixture of an interrogation room and a torture chamber. James tried to not look too closely at everything in the room. He could always come back later if he felt like it.
What have Regulus and Pandora been doing? He wasn’t sure he really needed to know.
Once Peter was inside the room Pandora already pulled him back out. “That’s alright Regulus will take care of the rest.”
When they arrived back in the living room Mary and Lily were already standing around awkwardly. Then they heard a noise and they were all together again.
Sirius was grumbling about something. Apparently, Regulus had felt it necessary to verify their identity every time he had returned. James was just glad they all got out safely.
Regulus was already heading out of the room in the direction of what James now started to call the ‘hostage room’ in his mind.
Pandora motioned for them all to sit down in her living room. James chose to sit down last in a love seat hoping Regulus would come back soon and sit next to him.
Pandora smiled at all of them “Don’t worry Regulus won’t take long. Tea anyone? I have some muffins too. I know we ruined your dinner. Don’t worry my husband is currently getting food so we can eat later.” Then she left to what James assumed was her kitchen before anyone could answer. They all just sat in silence processing what happened. About five minutes later a bunch of trays came floating out of the kitchen and settled themselves on the small living room table. James saw one tray with muffins, a can of tea and enough cups for everyone. He also noticed 2 bottles of potion on a smaller tray. Pandora rejoined them and winked at James as she sat down in the empty armchair leaving the only empty seat next to James.
Shortly after Regulus came back into the room. He looked like all the energy was drained out of him as he all but collapsed onto the seat next to James. Instinctively and just like they had never been apart James reached out for him and let Regulus lay his head into his lap and started stroking his hair out of his face.
Sirius made a gagging noise. “Well, there is something I didn’t miss seeing.”
Regulus just gave the middle finger in Sirius general direction while hiding his face in James’ lap.
After a beat of silence Mary reached out and grabbed a muffin while saying: “So what the hell just happened?”
Regulus tried to sit up but only managed to raise himself a little assuming a half sitting position still leaning on James.
“Regulus I will explain, and you can fill in the gaps afterwards. You need to rest now. You are not even fully healed from the fight earlier today.” James wanted to ask what fight Regulus had been in, but Pandora addressed him directly. “James. The potions on the table are for him. He needs to take both, first the red then the orange!” He nodded at her understanding that Regulus tended to overwork himself and not take a break to heal properly. He grabbed the first potion and without hesitation he helped Regulus drink it not letting him fully take the bottle from him. From the smell James guessed the potion had something to do with healing broken bones or other internal injuries. The second potion smelled like a strength potion which he made sure Regulus drank as well while Pandora continued talking.
“So where do I begin?”
“How about telling us about Peter first? I think that is everyone’s main concern.”
“Ah yes Pettigrew. He works for Voldemort. The dark mark should be visible on his arm now if you want to verify.”
“And doesn’t Regulus also work for moldy wart?” Mary asked immediately adding “sorry” as Sirius gave her a look.
“Oh, Regulus is also a spy but unlike Pettigrew he is working for our side. I’m what you could call his handler. I’m the only person from our side he was in contact with. A lot of people were saved because of him. Today we got the information that your secret keeper gave up the location. Regulus was sure that Sirius would rather die than do that, so this helped us figure out that it was Pettigrew. We made some preparations and then came to get you as soon as possible. We didn’t know when Voldemort was planning to attack or if anything had changed since Regulus blew his cover. So we needed to get you out as fast as we could but we also needed to make sure Pettigrew could not contact anyone or harm you.”
“Thank you.” James said both to Pandora and Regulus.
“And how did you find us?” Lily questioned.
“I was part of the group he chose for the attack on your house. When I got handed the note with your address, I slipped up. I wasn’t careful enough with my reaction. We got in a fight.”
“What he means is he fought against 4 other people and arrived here looking even worse than he does now. That is what took most of the morning. Once he was healed enough to start fighting me about not having to be healed any more before we go get you we adjusted the wards and prepared the interrogation room then went to get you.”
“That doesn’t explain why the wards didn’t alert us to your presence when you arrived. I mean it was lucky they didn’t so you could take Peter by surprise, but I don’t understand why?” Lily questioned.
“Oh, I didn’t even question that to be honest.” James admitted.
“I assume the house is in James’ name?” Regulus said as if it explained everything.
“Ohh yes, it is. Of course, that makes sense.” James realized.
“Care to clue the rest of us in?” Mary said.
“Oh um well...” James looked down at Regulus and saw him nod. “He is my husband.” He couldn’t help but give a huge smile. He wanted to tell his friends about him and Regulus for years, but it was never save enough.
“He is what now?” Remus was the first to find his voice. Then he immediately turned to Sirius “You knew about this!” it really a wasn’t a question. Anyone who knew Sirius Black knows that he would have flipped out at the news of his best friend and brother being secretly married.
“Yeah, they needed one witness to do it.” He grumbled.
“And James was worried not being able to keep it a secret from Sirius, so we chose him.” Regulus added with a look to Pandora. James guessed that she also just found out about them being husbands, but she just smiled at them.
“How can you be married without the ministry knowing about it?” Lily questioned them again.
“It’s a magical thing. The older magical families have these family rings made for sometimes only for the heir of each generation. I’m an only child and after Sirius left, Reg became the heir of his family. Well, you wear the ring until you find the one and then it is used to propose. A long time ago that was how marriages worked. They are magically binding. You have a ceremony with an exchange of rings and then the ring bonds with the recipient.”
“People usually get these marriages registered with the ministry before or after and a marriage is usually only recognized by the government after it is registered or you have an official ceremony. But when magic is concerned it recognizes us as husbands from the moments the rings were exchanged.”
“But you are both still wearing your family rings?” Remus questioned them.
“They are fake.” Regulus answered. That is when both James and Regulus took of the rings, they had on their right-hand ring finger off and switched them to the other hand. That revealed what looked like a tattoo on their finger. When Remus looked closer, he recognized the Black family insignia on James’ finger.
“It is quite the old tradition.” Sirius chimed in. “Not many people do it anymore. It technically isn’t possible to divorce this way. Their magic is bonded as long as they both live. They could get divorced on paper, but their magic will only recognize each other as the others spouse even if they get married to someone else in a government wedding.”
“That’s kind of romantic.” Mary said looking at Lily.
“And very stupid.” Sirius said.
“Oh, come on brother. I remember you cried when we did it.” Regulus actually teased his brother.
“When did you do it?” Mary looked like she was getting the hottest new gossip.
“At the beginning of our 7th year at Hogwarts on the astronomy tower after curfew.” James grinned.
“It was perfect.” Regulus said only to James but loud enough for everyone to hear.
He had regained his strength again and was now sitting up and only leaning on James for closeness. Not breaking eye contact with James, he leaned in, and they shared a soft kiss. After Regulus rested his forehead on James’ for a short moment before facing the room again.
“We need to finish this conversation. Any more questions?” He got them to focus again.
No one said anything about the tears they could see Regulus blinking away and about James trying to subtly wipe away his tears.
“I actually have a question.” Pandora piped up. “When we came to get you, we were under the impression that James and Lily had gotten married and Lily was heavily pregnant. Now I’m not a medi-witch but Lily you don’t look pregnant.”
James’ head snapped to Regulus. “Is that why you told Pandora to make sure to protect Lily when you went into the house?” Regulus looked away.
“….yes.” Regulus admitted.
“Did you believe it? Did you believe I married someone else.” James questioned him holding onto his hands.
“I wasn’t sure anymore. But I needed to make sure your family was safe.”
After that James couldn’t help but kiss Regulus again. This time a bit more forcefully than the first kiss. “I love you.” He blurted out.
Because James and Regulus seemed to be lost in each other’s eyes Lily answered Pandora’s question. “The marriage and pregnancy were fake. We had heard about a prophecy that a child would be born in July who would be able to defeat Voldemort and because our friends are actually having a baby and to maybe use it as a trap we made up everything. We thought it would be most believable if it were James and me because he was rather loudly about his crush on me from first to third grade.”
“Oh, you did a very good job I don’t think that many people know. Wait why did Pettigrew not know?” Pandora smiled.
“I had a feeling. I don’t know. I rationalized it that it would be better if less people knew. I told people I was using a glamour to not look pregnant or sometimes I actually used one to look pregnant.” Lily admitted.
“We suspected someone might not be fully loyal to our side. We were doing shifts, so people weren’t alone together and to maybe catch the traitor when they slipped up.” Remus added.
“Also, Regulus just so you know Lily is very gay and my girlfriend.” Mary grinned at him.
That was the first thing that caused a laugh to slip out of Regulus. James smiled at Mary and hoped she knew he was grateful. He linked his ring finger with Regulus’. He could feel the connection between their magic even more that way.
Remus spoke up again. “I have a few more questions. Is your cover fully blown or could you kill the people who realized you weren’t on their side?” he looked at Regulus with a serious expression. Sirius looked shocked about the idea of his little brother killing people for a second before he seemed to remember they were fighting a war.
“I can’t go back. Two of them are dead but I am unsure about the others. They will figure out someone betrayed them when they find your house empty anyways. It is not save to go back.”
“So we lost our advantage too.”
“Oh don’t worry your pretty head about that Remus. We got it covered.” Pandora winked at him.
“I probably don’t want to know any more.”
“Nope”
“What do you plan to do with Peter?”
“I gave him a potion that will knock him out for 24 hours when I went downstair. I guessed that should give us enough time to talk, rest and regroup. Then the interrogation starts.” Regulus just shrugged.
“I’d like to join you for that.” Sirius said and the brothers gave each other a nod.
“Maybe he was under the imperious curse?” Mary chimed in.
“It’s unlikely but we will figure it out either way.”
Sirius shuddered likely thinking about childhood memories.
“I hate occlumency.”
“I would be dead without it.” Regulus said dryly.
Remus was sitting there. He looked like he still had questions he wanted to ask.
“How did you know it wasn’t me?” he blurted out.
“Excuse me?” Regulus looked confused.
“The traitor. Pandora said you were sure that Sirius would rather die than reveal the location but how did you know it wasn’t me?”
“I see. I was 99 percent sure you were too in love with my brother to betray him. Then I was 100 percent sure you had better handwriting.”
A second passed then everyone started laughing.
After that the atmosphere lightened more. James and Regulus cuddle up again on the small sofa while James tried to get Regulus to share a muffin with him.
At around 8 pm the front door opens and half of the people in the room immediately shoot up wands ready.
In came a man around their age with long white hair. He noticed them all looking at him but remained calm. He put down the grocery bags he was carrying and then looked at Pandora and announced. “Left food third toe counting from the big one.”
Pandora smiled at him and nodded. “It’s him.” She announced and went over to give him a kiss and then took the groceries to the kitchen.
Pandoras presumed husband turned to the other people in the room and took a small bow. “Xenophilius Lovegood. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
He then followed Pandora into the kitchen.
Sirius turned to Regulus. “Do I want to know what that was about?”
“You really don’t.” Regulus answered and then took James’ hand as he was getting up.
“Come on everyone. I might as well show you all your rooms. We need to double up, but I guess that won’t be a problem.”