Regulus Black was a twelve-year-old boy, with horrible parents, and a big secret.
When he was growing up his parents would tell him all about soulmates. How they weren’t real. How the ministry tricked people into believing in them to make a more equal society. Magic couldn’t be connected. People couldn’t be connected. Every person with magic was deserving of it, and it was individual.
A person couldn’t share their magic. It couldn’t be given. It could only be stolen.
That’s why people of pureblood were special. Because they had earned their magic. For staying pure.
Muggle didn’t have magic because they didn’t deserve it. And muggleborns, they’d stolen their magic. They were bad.
But despite knowing what his parents told him, something inside himself knew that there was something. Something special, a special person. He was connected to someone. And he would dream about that special someone. Who he’d one day, willingly, share his magic with. He never told his parents about it. It was his secret.
His brother had told him about it. About soulmates, and magic. How it existed in everything, and that soulmates were real. That they would oneday meet their soulmate and just know. That that person was meant to be in their life.
-
Now Regulus was fifteen years old. With a new family and, still, a big secret.
All his life he’d been told soulmates weren’t real. But he’d seen the truth.
He’d watched his brother on his birthday, and seen the revelation. Sirius had found his soulmate and it was true. Soulmates were real, because his brother had found his.
Sirius and Remus were soulmates. Anyone could see it. Even before the letter, the ministry, the magic revealed it. They were meant for each other. And Regulus prayed to a god he didn’t know existed or not, that he would someday find that person.
Regulus was almost sixteen. In four months he’d turn sixteen, and then it would only be a year left for his letter. But today it wasn’t. Today it was James Potter’s birthday. He turned seventeen. He would get a letter, he would find out who his soulmate was.
I hope it’s me.
But that was a stupid thought. If Regulus were to think logically, James’ soulmate wouldn’t even go to Hogwarts. He was already at the table, looking over to the Gryffindors. James looked nervous, almost sick. But who wouldn’t be?
His friends were talking to him, but James didn’t respond. He looked deep in thought. Regulus was aching to know what was going through his mind.
“Who do you think it’ll be?” Barty asked, leaning across Regulus to grab a piece of bread.
He shrugged, “I don’t know. Probably no one in this school.”
Evan snorted, “You hope it’ll say it’s you.”
“Don’t be stupid. There’s no way it’ll be me.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t still hope,” Barty stated, through a mouth full of food.
Regulus hit his friend, ignoring their comments about his embarrassing crush on the Gryffindor boy, his brother's best friend.
Okay, his big secret wasn’t really a secret. Since all of his friends had figured it out only a minute after Regulus had.
Eventually, the owls flew into the great hall, changing direction and flying down to their individual recipients. One big owl landed on the shoulder of the boy looking close to vomiting. He looked scared, and his hands were shaking. But still, he fed the owl before it took off.
He’s so thoughtful.
Regulus couldn’t hear what they were saying, obviously, but James handed the letter to Peter and stared at his friend. What is he doing?
“What’s he doing?” Dorcas asked.
“My question exactly,” Regulus answered.
James eventually took back the letter after saying something, staring at the paper with big eyes. His beautiful eyes.
He started mumbling something, and Regulus frowned. “Does he look happy?” he asked.
Barty squinted, “I’m not sure.”
“Shocking!”
“What the fuck,” Evan stated, looking weirded out, “He’s so weird, Regulus. I don’t understand how you like him.”
“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled, “As if the person you fancy isn’t a maniac.”
“What, what, Evan fancies someone?” Barty exclaimed, “You fancy someone? Why don’t I know?”
“I don’t!” the blond denied, but his expression said otherwise.
Regulus went back to staring at the Gryffindor, he was now having a conversation with Regulus’ brother. The letter was passed from James to Sirius and after a few seconds-
“MY BROTHER!”
Regulus froze. No, it can’t be true. Not even in my wildest dreams.
He was staring at James, stunned, ignoring the punches on his arm, and the words from his friends.
“This is SO good! Holy shit!”
James eyes moved and stared directly into Regulus’. Realisation hit them both. They were soulmates.
-
Regulus was seventeen. It was summer and his birthday. In a little more than a month, he would leave his boyfriend for his last year at Hogwarts.
A year ago James Potter got his letter stating that Regulus Black was his soulmate. It shocked everyone. No one would have ever expected that the brother of his best friend would also turn out to be the person he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. And despite Sirius saying that he almost had an aneurysm when he found out, Regulus was sure that no one was more shocked than he was.
When he’d spoken to James about it they both had agreed that in that moment they felt like they’d died and gone to heaven.
James didn’t wait to speak to Regulus, he actually went up to him the very same day. 27th of March, 1977.
He confessed that he’d had feelings for Regulus for years, and that he felt like the luckiest person in the world. And when Regulus told him that he felt the same, James had asked if he was sure he wasn’t dead.
Sirius had been sour. He’d pouted and nagged, and said childish comments. He’d ignored James for a week before he realised he couldn’t live without his best friend, then he’d realised that he could never leave his brother and best friend alone together because they would probably kiss, and that is NOT allowed.
That lasted approximately three weeks before Remus got tired of it and told him that if he didn’t leave James and Regulus alone he wouldn’t… Regulus didn’t want to remember what Remus said, but it was filthy.
Now it’d gone a year, a year and four months to be exact. And… a lot had changed. James had told him he loved him on his birthday the prior year. Regulus hadn’t hesitated to tell him he loved him back. Their relationship was good. It was amazing really. Sure, Regulus didn’t have anything to compare it to, but he felt safe, and happy, and loved. And Sirius had really warmed up to it.
“Wait! Who’s best man will I be?! When you get married! Who-who- I can’t be both!”
“I’ll be godfather when you have kids right? Right? Right, Regulus? James? I’ll be godfather?”
“I can’t wait for us all to have our own homes and going to visit each other, and for our kids to play together… how are we going to have kids?”
“Me and Remus will have a dog. We’ve already talked about it. We’re going to adopt. You’re going to have pets right? Regulus loves animals so you have to have pets. James? You’re listening, right? Regulus loves animals, you’ll have to have at least three cats.”
“I realised that we can just adopt children! Or-or-or have a surrogate. Or! We could like, co-parent with our friends. D’you think Marlene would want to be pregnant? Maybe Dorcas. Or Lily and Mary!”
“I’m really excited for our futures.”
Regulus loved his brother. And he was ecstatic that he was happy for them. But his questions could sometimes get overwhelming, and sometimes… he didn’t even realise what his questions did to Regulus.
“Is it possible for a person to be someone's soulmate but for that person to not be their soulmate? I mean, we know that you’re James’ soulmate. But what if James isn’t your soulmate? I know I panicked about that before Remus had turned seventeen. Hm, I wonder if that could happen.”
What if James isn’t your soulmate? What if James isn’t your soulmate? What if James isn’t your soulmate? What if James isn’t your soulmate? What if-
“Regulus?” Mrs Potter asked, making Regulus snap out of his head, “Are you alright, dear?”
He took a breath, “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just… nervous.”
“Oh, that’s perfectly normal,” she comforted, “I know it probably won’t help, but it’s going to be fine. It’s incredibly rare for a person to be someone's soulmate but not have them be theirs.”
Regulus nodded, trying to calm himself down, “I know. But what if-”
“No, dear,” she shook her head, “I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen. An owl is going to land right here on our porch, you’re going to take the letter and read it. It’ll say ‘James Potter, 18, England.’ And then, that very same boy is going to walk out that door with his father and you brother, with a cake and sing a horribly out-of-tune birthday song.”
Regulus laughed and looked behind him, inside the window stood his boyfriend, decorating a cake together with Sirius. It looked like they were arguing about the berries, James pointed to the raspberries, while Sirius held up the strawberries. Regulus liked both, he’s always loved strawberries but lately, he’d been obsessed with the raspberries Mr Potter grew in his garden.
“Yeah, I guess it’ll be okay.”
“It will be,” Mrs Potter grabbed his hand, “You’re family, Regulus. No matter what. You don’t have to expect the worse for yourself. You deserve happiness.”
“Thank you-”
A screech interrupted his words. A bright snowy owl could be seen flying down, directly at Regulus.
This was it.
It landed softly on the table in front of him. With no hesitation, he tied loose the letter and opened it, but before he saw the words he closed it and grabbed a small packet from the table. Earlier that morning the Potters cat had caught a mouse and Regulus thought that maybe- Well, he wanted to give it to the owl. So, he saved it. It might be gross but otherwise, he would’ve only had some nuts to give it, and that felt wrong.
He opened the packet and held it out to the owl, only touching the paper. The owl hooted, took the owl and flew off. Regulus smiled.
“Will you open it?”
He looked to Mrs Potter and nodded, “Yes.”
His hands were steady, unfolding the paper and reading the words. A breath he didn’t even know he had held escaped. He felt relieved.
"James Potter, 18, England."
Before he could show Mrs Potter the door opened and out came James, Sirius and Mr Potter. Singing in entirely different pitches, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!”
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR REGGIEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO YOUUUU!”
“Gods, Sirius! No need to yell it!”
“He liked it, James!” his brother defended himself, “Right, Reggie? You loved it, didn’t you?”
Regulus laughed, “Yes, I loved it, Sirius. Thank you.”
“Sooo,” James stepped forward, “Was the letter the best thing you’ve ever read?”
He smiled, pulling his boyfriend forward and down by the hem of his shirt, whispering in his ear, “ Yes. ”
“Ew.”
“Bugger off, Sirius.”
“I-I- I mean,” Sirius looked uncomfortable, “Awwww.”
“Fuck off,” James laughed.
“Language!”
“What?” his boyfriend looked shocked at his mother, “Dad’s allowed to swear, but not me?”
“Your dad’s an adult.”
“So am I! I’m eighteen!”
"Anyway... we should frame our letters!" Sirius interrupted.
"Oh! I love that idea, don't you, Reggie?" his boyfriend agreed holding up the letter, "I mean, my name is just so pretty on this! "James Potter, 18, England." Amazing!"
Regulus couldn’t do anything other than smile. In that moment, he truly felt like the luckiest person in the world.
“Can we eat the cake now?”