For the rest of Forever

'A few weeks later'

It was a calm morning in the Slytherin manor and surprisingly calm, considering the past few days where everyone has run around like headless chickens to prepare for a political war that is to come.

Regulus was eating breakfast, when Marvolo walked in wearing a contemplative expression and holding the daily prophet. He gave Regulus a good morning kiss and passed him the prophet before taking a seat next to his soulmate. “There are some interesting announcements in the paper today.” Is all Marvolo said.

It left Regulus curious so he took the paper and started reading. The first thing he saw was the front page where James and now Lily Potter were smiling and waving. “So they got married.” Said Regulus, a thoughtful expression on his face “I didn’t expect it, as Evans, while just as rude and ignorant as Potter, had always rejected his advances…and the rumours about his playboy ways as well…but I guess they deserve each other.” “Yes, I quite agree with you my dear, though I do applaud Potter’s audacity, marrying someone the muggle way and not bonding with them is basically labelling them as your side… whore, so to say. And to do so publicly as well” Responded Marvolo.

“Hmmm” voiced Regulus, still thinking about it. Something was weird about that situation and Regulus was determined to find out. They spent a little while just thinking, they didn’t even turn the page on the prophet as Regulus was still staring at it and thinking.

Suddenly Regulus sat up straight and inhaled sharply, earning himself a curious look from Marvolo who wanted to know what the other had figured out. “I know why they suddenly got married so abruptly and the way they did.” Said Regulus, with a little bit of disgust in his voice.

“Go on” Urged Marvolo, who too had been trying to figure out the reason behind that pairing.
“Potter got Evans pregnant.” Stated Regulus, still disgusted with the way Potter is handling this. Suddenly Marvolo understood Regulus’s disgust. “He probably got her pregnant and doesn’t want the child to ruin his reputation in the future if it comes out that he has a bastard. Being married to Evans the muggle way prevents that. At the same time he didn’t want to bind with her because then he would have to stay faithful to her” Said Regulus, while thinking of all the ways bonding magic could hurt the one participating in infidelity.

“ This way it’s easier for him to name the child his heir if need be but also get rid of it if needed.” Added Marvolo seriously while thinking about what the light side would do to the child as they weren’t known to be the most accepting bunch, especially of bastard children.

Happy with himself for figuring it out, Regulus took the prophet once again and looked at the smiling couple for a second more. He noticed the way even in the picture Lily’s hand mostly stayed on her stomach protectively and James’s was around her waist the same way, confirming his theory. Being done with that announcement Regulus turned pages and read on.

He was already half way through the paper and he had found nothing really interesting except a few laws that were going to be voted on, which he discussed with Marvolo. As he was finishing the paper Regulus noticed Malfoy's pregnancy public announcement but that wasn’t what piqued his interest on that particular page. Just below the picture of the Malfoy family was a bonding/Soulmate announcement of Severus Snape Prince and…..Zephaniah Perdita McKinnon. This confuses Regulus greatly as he considers himself good friends with Severus, yet he has never even heard of this Zephaniah McKinnon. In the photo next to Severus’s dark form was a fairly tall male with brownish blonde shoulder length hair and sky blue eyes.

Deciding to ask his lover about it, Regulus raises his gaze from the paper and to Marvolo. “Mon Amor, do you know of Zephaniah McKinnon?” Inquired Regulus. Meeting his gaze Marvolo looks just as confused as he is. “No, I have no idea who that is, which is surprising as the McKinnons are an annoying light bunch who won’t stop getting in my way. Why do you ask?” Responded Marvolo now feeling curious as to who that man is.

“Well apparently our Severus has gone and found his soulmate in Zephaniah Perdita McKinnon, who nobody has ever seen or heard of and gotten bonded to him.” Explained Regulus. This concerned and confused Marvolo as Snape was one of his inner circle members and should announce things like this to him first but also that he has never heard of the man. “It is…. Troubling to say the least” Responded Marvolo. “But we shall figure it out later, maybe summon Severus with his new husband/bonded to shed some light to this.” He continued.

Nodding Regulus agreed and they finished their breakfast in silence.

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After finishing breakfast Regulus and Marvolo moved to their study to finish some paperwork before their date later on in the evening. They spent the time until noon filling out papers and sending out owls.

Regulus finished his work first and moved over to the couch to read some of the diaries that his grandfather left him, as Marvolo was still working. So far he had finished about half of them and he had found many spells that he had never even heard of, that were not very...light so to say. In addition to that he had found a lot of secrets about his own family and many other pureblood families, for example how the current head of the Parkinson family, Percival, is married to his own half sister Amaryllis. That had been among some of the interesting things he had learned. Regulus is sure that he now has more blackmail on people than his aunt Cassandra who is famous for her blackbook of secrets and blackmail.

Suddenly after seeing something in the diary Regulus frowned and inhaled sharply, which earned him a concerned glance from his soulmate but he waved it off and Marvolo went back to work. After frowning and thinking for a bit an idea popped into his head and he sat up straighter to look at his soulmate. Feeling eyes on himself Marvolo raised his gaze from his papers and moved it to Regulus who was looking at him with a contemplative look. “Is there something you want to ask, Stella mea?” Marvolo asked, feeling curious and worried about what his other half was thinking so hard about.

“I think I just solved our surrogate problem and saved a life at the same time” Stated Regulus calmly, they had been trying to find someone to carry their baby for the past few weeks but hadn’t found somebody they both agreed on. Hearing this Marvolo got up from his chair and moved to sit next to Regulus and put his arm around the other. “Do tell my dear” Encouraged Marvolo, suddenly a lot more interested in this conversation than the papers on his desk.

“According to this diary Sirius Black the II helped the LeStrange family out financially during the 20s and in exchange the LeStranges swore an blood oath that promised their next daughter born to the Black family heir of that time and that she was to give him an heir, if left unfulfilled the oath would kill the LeStrange female for not fulfilling her duties by her 25th birthday.” Said Regulus with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Humming Marvolo said “The LeStranges rarely birth females in their family and they knew it, in the 20s the last LeStrange female born to the main line was in the 1810s. They knew that they practically got free financial help seeing as their chance of birthing a female was extremely low.” Suddenly his eyes widened a little and he looked at Regulus “I forbid you from marrying Pandora LeStrange, you are MINE” Declared Marvolo fiercely while tugging Regulus closer to himself.

Chuckling Regulus pulled away from Marvolo and explained further “Pandora is a dear friend of mine and has already found her soulmate in Xenophilius Lovegood… anyway I have no romantic interest in her. But if this is accurate then she is going to die in a few years if she doesn’t fulfil her family’s vow of giving me a child.” Regulus stared patiently at Marvolo to put the pieces together. “You want to use Miss LeStrange as our surrogate so she doesn’t die” Stated Marvolo, now understanding where Regulus was going with this.

Nodding Regulus started explaining the benefits using her as their surrogate would bring “ Using her as our surrogate is the best option we currently have. She is a practising dark witch but she doesn’t participate in raids or in any type of fighting. She keeps a low profile. Being a female LeStrange would have her protected by her whole family as well as us, so she would be more protected than anyone else we could choose. She is also very capable of protecting herself” Regulus winced at a memory of duelling practise he had with her few years prior and she showed just how capable she is “And finally we know we can trust her as she has been my friend since my first year at Hogwarts” Finished Regulus.

Marvolo was thinking over it in his head, going over all the positives and negatives before coming to a conclusion “You are correct, from what you tell me the oath that her family took doesn’t require you to marry her, just own her and carry your child. However we must discuss it with her first…though I doubt she would refuse and we should also check with Gringotts if this is valid and how exactly the oath was worded, they keep documents of them. All things taken into consideration however, I think she would make an excellent choice for carrying our child” Declared Marvolo.

Casting a tempus Marvolo’s eyes widened a little and he stood up and reached his hand towards Regulus while smiling softly and said “Come on my dear, we are going to be late if we don’t hurry” Regulus who doesn’t know where they are going just nods and takes his soulmate’s hand.

By the time they made it to their floo room Regulus had asked Marvolo exactly 12 times about where they were going, rather than give him an answer Marvolo only smirked and looked at him from the corner of his eye. Standing by the fireplace Marvolo quickly transfigured their clothes into more formal robes, Black and Green for his own, Black and Silver for Regulus. After that was done he took Regulus’ hand again, said something Regulus didn’t hear and through the floo they went, leaving only a mixture of green and silver flames behind.

The first thing Regulus saw when he stepped out of the floo was blue sea and fishes, leaving him shocked. Coming out of his shock he looked around himself more closely and discovered that they were underwater, all the walls were made of glass and in the centre of the medium sized room was a table set up for two.

Raising a brown Regulus turned towards Marvolo questionably and asked “Where are we? And why are we here?” Chuckling a little at his partner's curiosity and impatience Marvolo answered “We are currently under the Mediterranean sea at a restaurant. I booked us a private room as you can see so that we can have a little more privacy. I hope that you don’t mind that I ordered beforehand so that we don’t have to wait for long.” Explained Marvolo.

Smiling softly Regulus replied that he doesn’t mind. Taking that as his que to move Marvolo, who still hadn’t let go of his partner’s hand, moved towards the table and pulled out a chair, like the gentleman he is. After letting Regulus take a seat and pushing his chair back towards the table, Marvolo moved towards his own seat and sat down.

They spent their evening eating delicious sea food and chatting about anything and everything from politics and their future child to the latest gossip they had heard from their associates.

By the time their dessert arrived their conversation had died down and they were just enjoying each other's company and the silence. Suddenly Marvolo stood up from his seat, combing his fingers through his dark brown curls and moved towards Regulus’s side of the table, when he stood up the music that had been playing the whole evening quietened down but neither of them noticed they, too busy staring at each other.

Without saying anything Marvolo stopped next to Regulus’s chair and lowered himself to one knee. “Dear Regulus, I didn’t think I would ever find you, you were a beautiful dream that I couldn’t reach. The fact that you are here today sitting in front of me, that you love me feels like my deepest desire come true and if it is a dream I pray to Hecate that I never wake up. But here I am today,as a dark lord kneeling in front of you, asking you to bond me, so Regulus Arcturus Black will you marry and bond with me ? I promise to love you every single second of every day, for the rest of forever.” Finished Marvolo, holding a green velvet box encasing a beautiful ring made out of black gold and covered in red diamonds all around, all the while refusing to look into the other’s eyes in case he sees rejection in them.

Regulus was speechless, his eyes were watering a little and it was hard to get words out but he managed to croak out a “Yes”. The reaction was instant, Marvolo rose up and pulled the still shocked Regulus with him and kissed him hard while burying his hands in his lover's midnight black curls. Regulus responded instantly, wrapping his hands around the other’s neck and playing with the hairs on the back of his neck while kissing him back.

After a while Marvolo pulled away, leaving a red faced and panting Regulus behind. He took Regulus’s left hand and fetched the ring from inside his pocket again, solely he put the ring around Regulus’s finger. It fit perfectly and looked even better. “Beautiful” Whispered Marvolo while staring at Regulus wearing his ring.

Unable to hold himself back Marvolo tugged Regulus back into his embrace and with a loud crack he broke the wards around the restaurant.

Blinking after the unexpected apparition, Regulus finds himself in the middle of their bed in the Slytherin manor…tied to bedposts with silk ropes and his top missing. Marvolo was staring at him from the bottom of the bed with a hungry look in his eyes, also without a shirt. Both of them were quiet just admiring each other’s six pack abs and lean forms, when suddenly Marvolo crawled on top of Regulus and started sucking on his skin on his way up.

When he finally reached his lover’s lips, Regulus was blushing red, panting and whining with need. Smirking evilly Marvolo leaned down again and whispered “You are mine tonight, princeps meus”