Chapter 2
They got in early that morning and the rest of the day was spent in a blur of hairspray and make-up.
At 9 on the dot, the White House Trio were making their way through the front doors for the Wedding.
It was extravagant to say the least.
A long ceremony.
James thinks it wasn’t long enough.
Because now James is sitting across from his sister in clear view of Prince Regulus who keeps looking over at them.
Not even his best friend is enough to shield him from the prying eyes of Prince Popsicle.
Speaking of his best friend, if Remus doesn’t stop making eyes at the eldest prince James is going to throttle him.
Press be damned.
Glaring into his meal James didn’t notice the youngest prince making his way over to them until he was directly in front of him asking Marlene a very dangerous question.
“Would you like to dance?” He’s stiff, like a puppet being forced to do this.
Or he just couldn’t be bothered.
There has to be some sort of ulterior motive.
Something that James can’t quite pick.
“Sure.” James glares at his sister and she smiles back apologetically before taking the prince's hand to dance.
James watches closely until it clicks.
They make their way across the room, people parting for them like he’s Moses and they’re the Red Sea.
They start dancing, waltzing and James is slowly getting simultaneously more confused and pissed.
Regulus sweeps his sister past a group of paparazzi and it all makes sense.
It's a publicity stunt!
He couldn’t even care to look at her, the prince kept looking over her shoulder and it made him start to fume.
He turns to his best friend,
“He won’t even look at her! That bitch!”
He falters as he realizes he’s talking to an empty seat.
Remus is nowhere to be found.
He sinks into his chair and pouts, picking up his champagne flute and downing it in one gulp.
The drink is almost automatically refilled.
The thing with James is that when he drinks he gets reflective.
He thinks about Regulus.
When he was 13 Marlene was obsessed with the royal family for a period of time.
On her wall was a poster of the prince when he was 14. It was candid, or seemed that way.
Regulus was smiling warmly and he was rugged up in a sweater too big for him and James immediately admired him.
He has never told anyone but when Marlene wasn't home he would sometimes sneak into her room and run his fingers over the poster.
His opinion on him changed at the world cup when he was 19, the prick.
He’s at least 3 drinks in when his best friend sits down next to him looking breathless.
“Hi. Where’s Marls?” James pouts more,
“Wouldn’t you like to know, deserter.” He looks up at glare at Remus who just looks sick of his bullshit
“Okay.
How many have you had cause you smell like champagne?
Also! How did I desert you??
I was gone for 20 minutes.
And again, where is your sister Hawkeye?
You’ve been glaring in the same spot for ages.
Like you've seen something that personally offends you.”
Remus raises an eyebrow at him and James pushes his face away.
“Give me time to answer. Jesus Moony”
Its then that Marlene sits back down into her seat and Remus mumbles
“Thank god” under his breath.
James spots the prince across the room and decides he’s going to have a little chat with him.
His sister and best friend are distracted by talking to each other so he slowly gets up telling them that he’s going to the bathroom.
He storms over to the royal looking down at him slightly, feeling slightly superior due to the height difference.
“What’s your angle here?
Why dance with my sister?”
The prince looks over at him, if it wasn’t for that perfectly neutral face James would think he saw a hint of disgust in his features.
Good.
He does have feelings.
“I don’t have an angle, what are you going on about James?”
His accent was very noticeable and distracted him slightly. Any hint of emotion that James saw earlier was gone.
“Fuck you don’t. You barely even looked at her, the only time you did was when you were sweeping her past the fucking paparazzi!”
James grabs his collar and pulls him forward to meet his eyes.
There's a fire behind Regulus’s eyes and James is finally seeing something other than forced nonchalant calm.
Something seems to click on the prince's face.
“Are you drunk?! Stop yelling before you make a scene.”
He pushes James back making him lose his balance.
He reaches forward to brace himself and grabs the closest thing, which just happens to be Regulus.
Ending up with both of them crashing into both the cake and one of the chocolate fountains.
“There goes $100,000” Regulus drawls sarcastically.
James takes a handful of chocolate and shoves it in his face.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I’m going to end you.”
‘Cakegate’ was trending on all major sites, photos and videos of James and Regulus going viral.
Fuck.
James wouldn’t be surprised if one of the veins in Mcgonagall's forehead bursts.
She was his mothers deputy head of staff.
Though she’d tell anyone who listens that she is basically a glorified nanny.
McGonagall was tall and stocky, holding herself like a headmaster or principal of sorts.
If principals were able to stab men through the kneecaps with knitting needles.
“You not only put your mothers reelection campaign at risk but you also endangered our political relationship with Britain! What were you thinking!”
James opens his mouth to speak and he’s cut off.
“No, don't answer that. It’s just going to make me want to kill you more”
She rubs her temple and keeps pacing.
James looks over at his mother desperately.
She’s sitting at the other end of the table and is looking at him stone cold,
face betraying nothing.
Effie Potter was a woman you could not cross.
She could tear you apart just by taking one look at you.
James and Marlene’s mother.
And America’s president.
She smiles empathetically at him, the mask gone.
She flattens a loose hair on top of her head and pulls her thick braid over her shoulder.
“Baby.
We need to fix this.
We’ve come up with a plan, it should work but you won’t like it.”
James winces, bracing himself for what's coming.
McGonagall drops a stack of papers in front of him.
Titled “HRH Regulus Facts”
“You’re to pretend to be the prince's new best friend, if anyone asks you act like the sun shines out of his ass and he shits gold. Are we clear?”
He swallows and nods,
“You have 1 interview appearance.
You need at least 2 social media posts together
And you have a visit to a children's hospital booked.”
“And when is all this?”
“You leave tomorrow.”