The exit
James was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
He was sitting in the library armchair positioned directly opposite the fireplace. His parents had told him that they would be in the kitchen and to call them immediately the moment Regulus and Sirius arrived because they might need medical attention. It was only five minutes until the clock reached the time limit they had given him and his parents would have to call the aurors to rescue them.
His stomach was upset and he instantly regretted eating, he couldn't sit still, his shaking hands had already dropped his wand about five times in the last minute. The thought of his boyfriend and his best friend being hurt and only having each other to defend against his entire family was terrifying and made him wish he hadn't agreed with them when they simply told him they already had a plan and he had to trust them.
They had been planning this for a year when James and Regulus had revealed their relationship to Sirius, as expected he had made a drama out of it.
"And that's how it happened Pads. But you're not upset, are you? Because now we can be real brothers. We're going to be a big happy family. My parents, Remus and you, Regulus and me and Pete. We're good aren't we?" James was talking really fast trying to fill Sirius's suspicious silence.
It wasn't a good sign.
He and Regulus were sitting on James' bed holding hands, across from Sirius who was sitting with Remus on his own bed. Regulus gave him a squeeze to remind him that they were together and that took some of the anxiety away from James.
Sirius who had been staring unfocused at a point beyond their heads finally turned his gaze to Regulus and then to James. Slowly the corners of his lips turned up into a smile. But it wasn't the smile he always gave James. It was the 'grin' that manic Black grin, the one where you could see the family's trademark insanity take possession of his features.
James was fucked.
"Prongs" his words sounded so sweet and calm.
"Yeah Pads?"
"I'll give you three seconds to run, you brotherfucker."
"Perfect" He gave Regulus a little kiss on the cheek and left the dormitory ready to run for his life as Sirius was already on number 2.
They had been chased all over the castle until a professor stopped them and sent them to detention where Sirius was already too exhausted to try and murder James, so he went on to question him and once all his doubts were satisfied he simply smiled at him and told him that he was happy for them and couldn't imagine two other people who could deserve them. Oh and he gave him a mild threat of death if he hurt his little brother.
A few months later an incident occurred during the Christmas holidays at the Black house and when they returned to school Sirius, Regulus, Remus and James had a very serious conversation about how none of the Black brothers could continue to live with their parents and what they could do once they came of age. James had expected this for a long time and quickly informed them that Effie and Monty would be happy for them to move to Potter Manor for good. It was no lie, their parents adored Sirius and Regulus and were just as eager as James to steal them away from Walburga and Orion.
They both ended up agreeing on the condition that they were going to plan their exit and James and Remus could only know a couple of details.
Then here he was. Sirius and Regulus had packed up as many of their belongings as possible without looking suspicious and brought them with them to the start of the school year. When they parted for the winter holidays James brought the things with him to Potter Manor, and he was to wait until Christmas Eve, if they weren't back by 10:15 then they could call the aurors.
It was only a minute before the fireplace lit up green and Sirius and Regulus came out of the Floo net laughing like mad with flushed cheeks and messy hair. James stepped forward and hugged them both tightly. When they separated James began to examine them for injuries but only Sirius had a small cut on his cheek that healed easily. Otherwise they just looked exhausted and sweaty.
"Prongs relax, we're fine" his voice still had a hint of amusement in it.
"You can relax now Jamie, we're never going back there" His boyfriend was looking at him with a loving smile and tenderly stroked his cheek with the back of his hand. James took his hand and smiled back seeing his grey eyes that he was always willing to get lost in. "But we have something to tell you."
"What did you two do?"
The brothers smiled at each other in a way that could only be described as brotherly, full of mischief and complicity.
...
Regulus was seated at the large table in the main hall of Grimmauld Place. Sirius was to his right, to his left was Rabastan Lestrange and across from his brother was Lucius Malfoy. Opposite them was Narcissa, to her left was Bellatrix and next to her was Druella and Cygnus. Walburga and Orion were at opposite ends of the table.
Their mother had insisted that it was an important day as it was the first dinner with their cousins' fiancés, with whom they were not at all fond of, to put it kindly.
When the main course arrived Regulus straightened up in his seat and braced himself, his hands were shaking slightly and he could feel the cold sweat on his back.
"Sirius, could you pass me the salt" Despite his nerves his voice came out steady and clear.
"It seems to me that you can reach it perfectly well yourself."
"If I could do that I wouldn't be bothering to ask you."
"I'm not too sure about that brother, I've found you've got into the habit of taking things you shouldn't be able to dream of reaching."
The clatter of cutlery stopped and suddenly everyone was looking at them.
"Sirius behave yourself," barked Walburga.
"What are you talking about?" said Druella at once. Her aunt always rejoiced in the scandals Sirius caused because then she could throw it back in Walburga's face that while she may not have had sons she at least knew how to raise her daughters.
"Oh I don't know Aunt dear, why don't we ask Regulus?" he turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. He was sure they all heard the venom dripping from her words.
Sirius was thriving, he loved drama and creating chaos, after all this had been his idea. Of course Regulus didn't complain, drama was a family trait and their shared hatred of their parents only fueled them further.
"I don't know what you're talking about, you must have gone mad after spending so much time with those nasty Gryffindors," he said as he reached for his glass of wine.
"Then you should be mad too dear little brother."
Regulus choked on the wine he had been drinking.
"What does that mean Regulus?" his father's words came out slowly, a dangerous edge to his voice.
"I can answer that..." said the eldest of the Black brothers with a satisfied smirk.
"Sirius," Regulus warned.
"No Regulus, I will not allow you to be ashamed of him. Sharing is caring." He paused dramatically and stood raising his wine glass as if he was going to give a speech. Everyone at the table was looking at Sirius with different expressions. His parents looked ready to curse him for creating a scene. Bellatrix and Druella were smiling as if they were watching a particularly funny show. Lucius and Rabastan looked confused and slightly upset. And Cygnus looked like he'd had enough firewhiskey to worry about the ridicule they might cause in front of his daughters' future husbands. Narcissa was just staring at Regulus with a blank expression. "Our dear Regulus Arcturus Black, the one you thought was going to become your worthy Slytherin heir is fucking my best Gryffindor friend James Fleamont Potter!"
There was a long minute of silence in which no one said anything. Everyone seemed to be in shock, until Bella let out a laugh.
Regulus stood up from his seat and pointed a finger directly in Sirius' face "At least my boyfriend is a pureblood who belonged to the Sacred 28, is the sole heir to the Potter fortune, and is a quidditch captain and head boy. Yours, on the other hand..."
"Don't you fucking dare" Sirius said through gritted teeth and glaring at him.
"Sirius is dating a werewolf half-breed."
Regulus could see out of the corner of his eye as his mother and father got up from the table. In a second they were all standing.
"Fuck you. You know what? He would fit right in with this family, after all wolves are classified as dark beings." A red glow brushed past Sirius's face.
When they turned around their parents were pointing their wands at them. Walburga at Sirius and Orion at Regulus.
They were fucked.
They were supposed to have hidden their parents' wands before dinner. How did they find them?
But suddenly Bellatrix laughed again and averted the attention "This must be something about the younger brothers in the Black family, right Cissy? What was the name of that Gryffindor girl who played on the Quidditch team you fell in love with? Alice?"
Narcissa turned paler than usual, but a second later her face turned red and she pointed her wand at Bellatrix which Regulus didn't know at what point she had pulled out. "And what was the name of that Slytherin girl you used to sneak into broom wardrobes with? The one who works as an intern at The Prophet newspaper? Rita Skeeter?"
It all got pretty confusing after that. Curses started raining down from all sides. Regulus and Sirius were fighting back to back trying to defend themselves from their parents' attacks and out of the corner of his eye he could see Bella and Cissy doing the same to Druella and Cygnus.
Lucius and Rabastan at some point in the scuffle had disappeared, honestly Regulus didn't care as long as they weren't in their way, but they had to hurry out in case they had gone out for reinforcements.
He was beginning to tire when he heard a thump and saw his father on the floor. In a second Sirius was at his side and they were fighting together against Walburga who in a moment of carelessness failed to protect herself and Sirius managed to disarm her. With their mother's wand in hand and their father incapacitated Sirius and Regulus approached the door without turning their backs on their mother.
"You are the disgrace of House Black."
"And it's a pleasure to be" Sirius said bowing in an exaggerated, mocking curtsy.
They left the drawing room and headed straight for the library, James had enabled the connection between the fireplace in that room and Potter Manor.
"Come on Reggie we're almost at the time limit" His brother was ahead of him.
Once they reached the library they locked the door as quickly as they could. And they searched for the Floo Powder.
They were already at the fireplace about to knock when suddenly the door burst open and through the door frame came their cousins, both dishevelled and breathing heavily.
"What the fuck?" Sirius was gawking at them.
"So where are we going then?" said Bellatrix once they were in front of the fireplace.
"We're going? Us? Are you mad?"
"Come on Siri, if it wasn't for us you two would be on the living room carpet under our uncles wands by now and then locked up in the dungeons of Black Manor. I want to believe that you are not foolish enough to do all that suicidal act without having a safe place to go. Now we'll be disowned too for saving their arses so...where do we go?" Narcissa was staring at them.
Sirius and Regulus looked at each other and smiled at the same time. Then they looked at Cissy and Bella and the younger Black said "Potter Manor, but wait 30 seconds before you go, we need to warn James and his parents."
"Then hurry before they find us, Grimmauld Place isn't that big" Bella leaned against the wall and waved them off.
...
James was speechless once they finished telling him a condensed version of events.
The only thought that crossed his mind at that moment was, this family is insane.
But before he could say anything the fireplace lit up again but this time out came two women in extravagant dresses, one with long platinum blonde hair and a pale blue dress and the other with curly black hair and an almost black green dress.
The latter approached James.
"So you're our new cousin then."