The Black family did not care about fate.
This was the message his parents told him ever since he was little. He learned to ignore the red string on his finger, because he would only marry someone for convenience, only if his parents wanted him to.
While many purebloods did care about the red thread around their finger, the Black family was one of the families that did not. This explained the inbreeding; every other pureblood would marry their other half, their true love, so it only left close family.
For children who grew up in the family, like Regulus, this was the only truth; he was taught to ignore the string. Though, his whole view changed when Sirius started telling him stories in his letters from Hogwarts. He had been sorted into Gryffindor, meeting the person on the other end of the thread. It was a boy in his year named Remus Lupin and Regulus just knew that the boy made his brother happy.
Sometimes he wondered who would be on the other end of his thread, would it be someone who would make him happy? Deep down he knew he shouldn’t have these thoughts, when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor his parents decided to ignore him, instead focusing on Regulus, he was being raised to be the perfect pureblood heir.
When Regulus went to Hogwarts he was sorted into Slytherin, like his parents would want him to. He talked to some people, even made some friends, but didn’t meet the person on the other end of his thread, yet.
After that he lost hope, maybe next year, maybe the person on the other end was a year younger.
So just imagine his surprise when Sirius went to talk to him someday, his friends following him. He finally saw the other end of his string. His mouth fell open and he saw his expression being mirrored by one of his brothers friends, but quickly he masked his expression.
“Reggie, you listening?” Sirius asked, a slight smirk on his face. Whatever his brother was saying probably wasn’t serious. (Ha- no pun intended.)
“Mhh, oh yeah, sorry.” He looked down embarrassed.
“It’s okay, I was just asking if you could help us get into the Slytherin dorms.” Sirius said, Regulus snorted, “No, no way. I’m not trusting you.”
“Please, no one will notice us.” James said and Regulus sighed, he knew, just knew that this was manipulation. The twelve year old James Potter was using their connection to get what he wanted.
“Fine, but if you get caught, it’s on you.” Regulus said and Sirius literally hugged him, though Regulus could see how surprised he was.
“We won’t.”
Ever since that day Sirius seemed to trust him some more. He got invited to be involved in pranks and sometimes joined them while they were hanging out outside. It was awkward as first, but once they got older he got used to it.
Usually he just ignored their bullshit, instead he talked with Remus, the only calm one of the group. (Regulus had to admit, he was surprised. The fact that Remus and Sirius made each other so happy, even if they were almost opposites. On the other side, Remus was less serious than you would think. He even came up with most of the pranks.)
When Regulus was fourteen years old, James cornered him.
“Are we just going to keep ignoring this?” The fifteen year old boy asked him and Regulus shrugged, not quite knowing what to answer.
“Look, Sirius made it quite clear that your family does not give a shit about fate.” James started, “But- I- I mean it’s fate, Reg.”
“My family-“ Regulus started, but he stopped himself. “I- I can’t. Do you know how mad Sirius would be?” He whispered instead.
“He- he would understand, eventually.” James insisted and Regulus sighed, “We ignored it for four years, why would we stop now?”
“Reg, please.” James said, “Just- let me take you out, once? We’ll go from there.”
Regulus looked away, their string was practically glowing now. “Fine, you can deal with Sirius, though.”
James smiled promised nothing good and Regulus felt like he was going to regret this. Going out with his brothers best friend? Sirius would kill them.
They went on the date, James had somehow kept it a secret from Sirius and Regulus had to admit it had been the most fun he had in years. He almost couldn’t believe he trusted his parents when they told him that fate didn’t matter, it wouldn’t guarantee happiness.
Because Regulus felt pretty damn happy right now.
They went on some more dates over the next year. Sometimes it felt weird to sneak around the castle, making sure that everyone, but especially Sirius didn’t find out. James was the first person Regulus had ever dated, but now he couldn’t imagine dating anyone else anymore. It just felt right, fate hadn’t made a mistake.
Besides, James was pureblood and while Regulus himself wouldn’t care if he wasn’t, he knew his family would. He didn’t have to worry about them being angry because he was dating a muggleborn or half-blood.
On the other side, most of the dark side weren’t fan of the Potters, even if James’ mother was a Black. That too, was one of the things Regulus disliked, they were direct family and while Black was known for inbreeding, it didn’t mean he had to like it.
But every hour he spent with James it began easier to ignore the things he disliked, instead he focused on how happy he felt with James and decided that this relationship was worth it, fate hadn’t made a mistake. Fate hadn’t screwed him over.
Their relationship continued even when James went to the sixth year, eventually Remus found out about them by walking in on them while they were making out. However awkward it was, Regulus was smirking the whole time while James tried to explain himself.
Remus seemed amused by the whole thing too and eventually admitted he had known for a while, he had figured it out. He was happy for them.
Soon after that Sirius and Peter found out. Peters response was a small shrug with a, “Congratulations.”
Sirius however, threatened to castrate James if he would ever hurt his brother and then asked Regulus if he was happy, which he was. Then he congratulated them, but he didn’t look happy while doing it.
Regulus and Remus were both way too amused by the situation once again.
Regulus thought that the marauders figuring it out would mean not having to hide, however James responded in a totally different way. He started to distance himself, almost pretending Regulus didn’t exist anymore.
It would only take a few weeks after that till Regulus found out why James distanced himself, Lily’s Evans thread had been cut in half after Severus called her a mudblood. Another few weeks later he woke up with his own thread cut in half.
His sobs filled the silence in his and Barty’s room. He refused to answer anyones questions about his mood that day.
When Sirius found out he had been angry on his behalf, though quickly that all changed and all the marauders distanced themselves from Regulus.
He didn’t want to blame James for taking away his friends, didn’t want to blame him for taking away his brother. But the way the group would look at him now made him wonder just what James had told them. It wouldn’t be hard to convince Sirius their parents had managed to manipulate him, the rest of the marauders probably trusted Sirius on his judgement.
James obviously knew that his parents were easy to blame, it was easy to convince them that he had done something terrible for his parents.
When he saw his brother’s friend group later that week with James and Lily holding hands, the thread that had once been connected to his half now carefully tied to Lily’s broken thread, he didn’t show any emotions.
Three years later he would bow in front of his Lord, getting his most important mission yet. When he made the decision to risk his life to betray the Lord, he tried to convince himself that he didn’t do it for the people who had left him years ago.
And when he slowly sank into the water he knew he wouldn’t survive this. He didn’t feel regret, because he could finally escape fate’s cruel plans.
Because he knew that the Black family did not care about fate.
But it seems like fate doesn’t give a shit about them either.