Regulus lost his hearing when he was fifteen years old. Walburga had gone wild with rage when Sirius ran away and took it out on the only available son she had. One Cruciatus curse too many had damaged his hearing beyond repair. Waking up in bed, surrounded by high priced Healers trying to fix the damage he sustained “playing Quidditch” had been oddly comforting. He could see their lips moving, knew they were trying to speak to him but there was no sound. He never had to hear the crazed shriek in his mother’s voice as she cursed him, verbally and magically, again.
He would also not be forced to take the Mark and be sacrificed to Voldemort. He was clever, possibly the smartest in Hogwarts, and had heard many times that he would be able to serve the Dark Lord well once it became clear that Sirius would never be tamed well enough. Walburga had informed him when he was sorted into Slytherin that he was expected to shoulder that burden as the Dark Lord would never accept a Gryffindor into his ranks and Sirius decided that meant Regulus was just as evil as her when he didn’t argue. Now though, he was just a deaf wizard who could still serve as Heir but was useless in the war.
Every ray of light brings with it a shadow. Regulus no longer had any way to communicate with anyone except through quill and parchment. He had a self writing quill that transcribed whatever the person he was conversing with said to a piece of parchment but that method was tedious, usually resulting in frustrated jabs from Walburga’s wand. He had quickly learned to read his mother’s lips when she was about to throw a curse at him and had vastly improved his use of wordless magic.
The train ride back to Hogwarts had been mortifying. When he had told Pandora, or rather, written to her, that he had lost his hearing, she had screamed “You’re deaf?” so loudly, half the platform had turned to stare. Even worse, Sirius and his gang of merry idiots had heard her and rushed over, fake sympathy all over their faces. Suddenly, Regulus was worth saving and he despised Sirius for it.
Rumors had spread to the entirety of the student body by the Welcome Feast. The professors had all looked at him with poorly disguised pity from their table at the head of the Great Hall, Slughorn had even made a show of coming up to him and loudly saying with exaggeratedly clear pronunciation, “Regulus my lad! So brave of you to continue your education with your uh, affliction.”
Walburga had done a good job explaining away her son’s hearing loss and the few scars the Healers couldn’t magic away as an unfortunate Quidditch accident from training by himself over the summer. There were a few wild stories like Regulus had to duel the Dark Lord himself to earn the Dark Mark but Voldemort was threatened by how much more blood thirsty Regulus was than him so he took away Regulus’ hearing but the most commonly accepted one was similar to what Walburga told everyone.
A few of Regulus’ house mates tried to pick on him, having assumed he would no longer be able to defend himself but a few well placed wordless curses quickly disabused them of that notion. Classes were still relatively easy. The Self Writing quill was charmed well enough that it kept up with the professors and he was able to concentrate on his studies much more easily without the distraction of the sounds of the students around him.
He found being deaf to be profoundly lonely. All of humanity felt like it was an arm’s length away and he was doomed to be an observer for the rest of his life. People made efforts, Evan and Barty would jinx the living hell out of students that tried to prank or insult Regulus, Pandora and Dorcas created a spell that would deliver folded bits of paper and sent him notes throughout the day to make sure he didn’t miss anything.
Sirius began to show up everywhere he went. At first, Regulus avoided him because he was still angry, hurt and betrayed by how his big brother had given up on him and abandoned him, but he quickly started avoiding his brother because it was exhausting. Sirius had terrible handwriting, atrocious spelling and not enough patience to have a conversation through quill and parchment. Regulus had gotten better at reading lips but Sirius couldn’t sit still long enough, speak slowly enough or face Regulus long enough for him to understand what was being said. Sirius would inevitably explode from frustration, switching in between English and French, making it even harder for Regulus to understand what was being said.
Peter was even worse, Regulus’ reputation as the vengeful ice prince of Slytherin made him so nervous that he stuttered through the whole thirty seconds of his conversation with Regulus and immediately fled, leaving a bewildered Regulus staring after him.
Remus was by far the easiest to speak to, not that Regulus did so willingly. He was a man of few words but those he said were done so clearly. Remus didn’t say much more than to have patience with Sirius and to not be hesitant to ask for help if it was ever needed. Regulus turned him down, of course, but he felt a brief burst of gratitude for the offer.
Then there was James. Regulus tried so hard to ignore James, he really did. However it proved impossible. Gryffindor’s Golden Boy was perhaps the most persistent person he had ever met. The first interaction they had after the train platform was about a month after classes began. He had run up to Regulus and shoved a small stack of books into his hands, wildly gesticulating at the note scrawled on top. The note informed him the books were muggle texts about lip reading and sign language, and a few books written by others who were deaf.
Against his better judgment, Regulus let James worm his way into his life and slowly, Lily as well. She had finally caved to James and they were now Hogwarts’ power couple. Lily had been the one to help Regulus learn how to use his voice again; between that, lip reading and the Self Writing quill, he soon was able to have conversations again with relative ease.
Regulus was nineteen when his relationship with Sirius began to heal. James and Lily dragged him to the Potters’ house for Christmas, insisting he couldn’t spend the holiday alone. Orion had died the year before from an unexpected heart attack, leaving Regulus as Lord of the house of Black. The very day the Lordship ring was placed on his finger and the family magic settled comfortably into his bones, he had finally revealed his backbone and sent Walburga to an estate property they owned in the south of France, firmly wresting the reins of the family from her grip.
He had almost cried when Sirius had grabbed him in a firm hug, then carefully signed out the words, “Merry Christmas, little brother”. Sirius, Remus, James’ parents and even Peter had all secretly learned sign language, with James and Lily’s help and a muggle class they all attended while he was in his seventh year.
Effie was a lovely woman. He had trusted her the instant he laid eyes on her, her sunny smile and golden brown eyes putting him at ease. They had a weekly tea time, which was the highlight of his week. She was an intelligent woman and he often picked her brain on various ideas he had to restore his family’s reputation.
Monty helped him begin brewing potions again. He stopped brewing potions when he realized that it became much more difficult, he had never realized how much he had relied on his hearing to brew things. He had had to switch to the more theory related subjects at Hogwarts for his last two years, the professors had worried about his ability to stay safe when he couldn’t hear anything that might endanger him. Potions was out, it would be difficult to alert him if there was an accident. Herbology was a no go, he had knocked over a baby Mandrake without realizing it and half the class had to go to Madam Pomphrey to repair their eardrums from the unexpected shrieks. In fact, almost half the classes available to sixth and seventh years barred him from taking them and he had lost his dream of becoming a Potions Master. Monty, however, restored his confidence little by little and soon he was brewing potions with his previous level of skill.
Lily was murdered on Halloween in 1981. She and James had gotten married two years previously and had little Harry less than a year later. Regulus had cried from happiness that day, everyone was so blindingly happy despite the war that was raging on in the magical world. When Harry was born, Regulus was the first person after James and Sirius to hold the tiny infant. The event was bitter sweet as Monty and Effie had suddenly contracted Dragon Pox, succumbing to the disease mere weeks before Harry’s arrival in the world.
Regulus was in the house in Godric’s Hollow the night Peter betrayed James and Lily. Lily and Harry had a cold and James was so wound up with stress from the threat of the Prophecy, his wife and child’s illness and grief for his parents’ death that Regulus had come with potions to help soothe both the illness and stress. He had stepped out of the Floo just as Peter had knocked on the door and Regulus had somehow managed to shove James out of the way of the killing curse Peter had cast. Voldemort ignored the three of them as they fought, choosing to ascend the staircase.
Regulus knew the instant Lily was killed. James had flinched, glancing up the stairs in anguish and Regulus knew that James had just heard the sound of his wife’s body hitting the floor. Peter had frozen too, giving Regulus just enough time to hit him with a stupefying spell. Then the world tore itself apart as an explosion of magical energy burst through the house. When he woke, dazed and bleeding from half a dozen nicks and cuts, he first saw James laying on the ground, mostly fine apart from a few small injuries like himself. Peter, on the other hand, was bleeding from a head wound and was completely still.
Sirius had showed up moments later and began frantically searching through the rubble of the cottage, wailing as he found Regulus sitting next to an unconscious James. With shaky fingers, Regulus managed to sign that Peter had betrayed them before the Aurors arrived and they were transported to St. Mungo’s.
Just like that, the war was over.
James was quieter than he had been before. They all were. The death and destruction that war brought had left scars on their young lives that would never heal. Other than Lily, Dorcas and Marlene had also died. Evan had fallen to Alistor Moody and Barty had been captured as part of the Death Eater group that tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity.
Harry was found alive in his crib, a scar burned into his forehead as a reminder that he was the only person to ever survive a killing curse. Death Eaters were rounded up and tried, filling the cells of Azkaban.
Sirius and Remus married a year and a half after the end of the war. Peter’s betrayal weighed heavily on the three remaining Marauders. Regulus was a poor stand-in for what they had lost. He did the best he could to fill in the gaps but he wasn’t their missing piece, he hadn’t been an integral part of their lives for half of his life.
It was New Year’s 1986 when James realized he had developed feelings for Regulus. It was all rather cliche. Regulus had a sleepy five year old Harry on his hip, Harry snuggled into his shoulder as they both watched the fireworks light up the sky. It was under the light of the fireworks when James saw Regulus’ mouth curve into an impossibly soft smile, his silver gray eyes sparkling as Harry signed for Regulus to look at the sky.
His heart had swelled, then broken, all in the same moment. His Lily had been gone for over four years but the feeling that he was cheating on her clawed at his throat. Sirius and Remus had finally pulled a confession from him after catching the lingering looks he sent Regulus’ way for months and the blush that would darken his ears when the younger Black smiled at him. It took them another six months to convince him that it was okay to move on from Lily and be in another relationship.
When James finally worked up the courage to tell Regulus that he had fallen for him, he had to fight to hold back his laughter at the comically stunned look on Regulus’ face. He lost the battle when Regulus started ranting about how stupid James was for having feelings for him and he wondered how James could ever make it through life when he made such bad decisions. The pretty blush that painted his pale cheeks as James wheezed and guffawed from where he had collapsed on the floor only served to endear him even further to James.
It had taken a few moments but he managed to collect himself before launching into a rant of his own, both verbally and through sign language, detailing exactly each and every single thing that he loved about Regulus. The list had gone on for an impressive amount of time, Regulus’ cheeks turning more and more red, before he finally flung himself into James’ arms and caught his mouth in a kiss.
Sirius had dramatically sighed and pretended to reluctantly give his blessing for their relationship. Regulus managed to get him to drop his act of begrudging acceptance by informing him that James had almost fainted when he had kissed him. Sirius found this hilarious and gleefully told everyone they knew about the incident.
Harry was absolutely beside himself in excitement when he, Regulus and James all moved in together. Regulus became Papa overnight and James loved the soft look that would come over Regulus’ face whenever the little boy ran into his arms for a hug or babbled to him in sign.
They visited Lily’s grave every year on Halloween. Regulus was the one who had insisted on their annual visit. He would pack a picnic basket while James and Harry went first. The two would tell Lily about what had happened during the year and James would tell Harry stories about his mother. Regulus would join them after a few hours and they would eat the picnic together. The ache of her passing lessened a little each year, but Regulus would sometimes find James looking at a picture of her with tears in his eyes and they would sit together in silence, taking comfort in each other’s presence.
They married the year before Harry left for Hogwarts. James had asked Regulus to marry him a year and a half after they began dating but Regulus had steadily refused. It was one of the only arguments they couldn’t ever find an eventual compromise for. James truly didn’t care about the reputation of the house of Black but Regulus insisted that he would not marry James if it meant permanently tarnishing the Potter family name.
In the end, Regulus was the one who officially proposed to James. After a series of unusual and random gifts, Sirius had realized that Regulus was following traditional courting procedures. He had restrained James, who was ready to find Regulus right that instant and scream his acceptance, and forced him to promise that he would allow Regulus to fully and properly court him according to the traditions. The process took a few months to finish and James barely managed to follow Regulus’ lead.
They settled into married life rather quickly. Regulus continued his work in the Ministry and the Wizengamot while James ran the hair products company his father had started. Sirius quit the Aurors shortly after the war ended and he and Remus spent much of their time traveling, not choosing to fully settle down until they were in their thirties.