Timeless

Regulus

Sirius was right, Iceland was beautiful, there were wildflowers everywhere, mountains surrounding us on one side and a peaceful sea on the other. And, if the diricawls running around in the lawn were to be taken as an indication, the person living in the little wooden grass-roofed house was indeed a wizard. 

It did seem like a place Alphard would end up in, but then again, who was I to predict that, I barely remembered what he looked like. Guess I had to just hope for the best.

I went to step closer to the building and discovered myself stuck.

I never let go of James, did I?

Nor him of me. 

“What did we say about keeping our distance?” I asked myself, yet still not letting go. I just stared at our entwined hands and cursed the world because this wasn't fair. I had never wanted anything, hadn't ever asked for more, and now there seemed to be one thing I wanted and that was somehow the thing that I was forbidden the most. 

I pulled my hand away and headed for the house, James' steps faithfully right behind me.

There were no lights on in the house, but then again it was bright outside, a white layer of clouds keeping away the direct sunlight while really just distributing light even more evenly, so why would there have been. I climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door.

“Merlin fuck,” a voice cursed, followed by a bang and clattering of some sort. I straightened my dress and was suddenly afraid of my hair looking aloof.

“James?” I spun around and stumbled into his chest, his hands immediately wrapping around my waist to steady me. I swallowed, meeting his eyes, “Does, um, does my hair look alright?”

“Reggie, your hair looks perfect. It always has, always does. It's unfair really, nobody should be allowed to have such perfect-” his eyes peeked a couple inches down just for a moment, “hair,”

Oh. Just. Oh. It was my turn to let my eyes slip lower, his lips parted just a bit.

I heard the door opening and spun back around, pushing James' hands off of me. 

And there he was, my uncle in all his glory – hair a mess, no pants and a nightshirt on.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked us, one brow raised.

“Regina,” I said, “Sirius' sister,”

“Oh,” his shock was undeniable, “Didn't expect to see you ever again, to be honest,” and there was the confirmation I needed – he was completely oblivious to our betrothal. Had my parents planned on kidnapping him and forcing him down the aisle? Probably, actually, did sound like them. 

“Right,” I muttered, unsure how to break the news to him.

“Well come on inside,” he gestured. 

I turned to James, “Stay outside, please,” 

“But-” 

“James, this is none of your business,”

He opened his mouth to argue, but before he could I stepped in and had Alphard shut the door behind us.

“Business, huh? So there is a reason you're barging in on me in the middle of the night?”

“Night!? Yes, the sun's behind the clouds, but it's still there, by the way,”

“You ever heard of the polar day?”

“Oh. Shit. Sorry,”

“Eh, it happens. So. Coffee? Tea?”

“Tea's fine, thank you,”

He nodded and let his wand do the hard work, the kettle's heat turning on in the kitchen and mugs flying. It might be weird, considering I was a wizard, no wait, a witch, shit, but I was mesmerized by it. Our labour was always done by Kreacher and I'd never seen mugs flying like this or heard a kettle starting to howl.

“So? What brings you here?” Alphard asked as he poured us tea.

“Um. Well. I thought you may want to know that we're engaged and to be married in two weeks,” he choked on his tea.

“We're WHAT?”

“Engaged,”

“Absolutely not,” he shook his head, “who told you that?”

“My parents. The rest of them. There was a whole party basically. I did wonder why you weren't present and started wondering perhaps you weren't even consulted with and obviously you were not so guess now I'm here to bring you back with me for the wedding,”

“Regina, I'm not going to marry you.”

“What?”

“You're my niece,” 

“So? The rest of the family doesn't seem to mind in the least,”

“Yeah, well I'm not them. If your only reason for being here is to get me to marry you, you might as well leave,”

“But-”

“No,”

“Look-”

“Regina, I'm gay.”

I shut my mouth and stared at him, puzzle pieces falling into place. He looked both ashamed and proud and I wondered what his parents had made him feel as he grew up, how much he may have been tortured to still feel shame after all the time he'd spent free of the Blacks. I wondered if he thought I was judging him for it. I wasn't. I wanted him to know that.

“It's,” I swallowed a lump in my throat, “It's Regulus,”

“What'?”

“It's- nevermind,”

“Wait. Sweetheart, are you? You're coming out to me as transgender?”

I shrugged. I'd only told Sirius before and that was in the midst of a mental breakdown. This was different. This was on purpose.

“My sweet boy,” he gave me a soft smile, put away his tea and wrapped me in a tight hug. I let myself accept it. A tear slipped down my cheek, “I'm very glad you told me. I hope you know you're perfect the way you want to be and not the way you are forced to be,”

I pushed myself back and wiped away the tears, “So you're not going to marry me?”

“No, sweetheart, I'm not,”

“You have to,” I started frantically shaking my head.

“Regulus-”

I had to tell him, there was no way to get him to agree otherwise. I pulled up my sleeve, “I made an unbreakable vow. If you don't, I die.”

“Shit,” he gasped and for a moment just stared in silence, “What else did you promise?”

“To kill my soulmate if I am ever to meet him and to never touch him,”

“Ha. Beat them with that one, didn't ya?” he laughed, only confusing me.

“What?” James passed the window behind Alphard, he was chasing a group of diricawls.

“Him. Nice wordplay. They don't know you're not a girl do they?”

“I don't see how that has anything to do with- wait,” only now did I take my eyes off of James to look back at my uncle, “You think I only like girls?” 

“You- Oh lord are we in trouble,” my eyes had slipped back to James and Alphard's gaze had followed the line of mine, which I only realised now that I'd turned my attention back to him, “James is not just Sirius' best friend keeping an eye on you for him is he?”

“You know James?”

“Of course I do. Do you?”

“Well. We're…” friends? enemies? I didn't know exactly.

“You're?” he poked me to finish the sentence.

“Acquaintances,” I shut my eyes.

“No, sweetie, you're sou-”

“No.”

“But-”

“No. No we aren't. And if you don't believe me then riddle me this - I still don't have my soulmate inking. And you, you must marry me so that I get a chance at life. Please.”

He shook his head. 

Shit. Fuck.