Together, always
Regulus hadn't been feeling well for the last few months. Remus grew very concerned as they had gotten quite close over the last year. Regulus was throwing up every morning. He complained his back hurt more than usual and he was gaining weight.
Remus decided to take it up with madam pomfrey.
"Hello remus. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine, how are you?"
"I'm good thanks. Do you have a question or something? It's still a week to the full moon"
"I have a question but it's not about me."
"Okay, go ahead"
"Well my friends hasn't been feeling well. Back aches more than usual, gaining weight and throwing up loads. Is it like a disease or something?"
"Can you tell me who this person is?"
"It's regulus black"
"Well dear. There is a few things it could be. It could be a virus or it could be pregnancy"
"Oh"
"Do you know any more of his symptoms?"
"Well he seems to be more emotional. He's missed quidditch a few times because he said he's got 'motion sickness' but I don't really think there is anything else"
"We'll dear. This sounds like pregnancy. Is there any way you could get him in here to get tested?"
"I'll have to talk to him first and then I have no clue"
"Well I'll have one ready if you can bring him in. It will be for the best"
"Thank you madam pomfrey"
"No problem remus, and remember if you feel ill up until the full moon come straight to me"
"I will do, I'll see you soon"
"No problem"
Remus was confused but the more he thought about it, the more it fit. How would he tell the news to regulus? He was acting like he was the pregnant one and regulus was the father. He decided to ask sirius about how to approach difficult topics with him first when he got to the common room.
"Hey Pads can I talk to you quickly please"
"Yeah sure one sec"
Sirius got up and followed remus to the dorms.
"Are you alright moony?"
"Yeah. im just going to get into it. How would you approach regulus about a serious topic which will make probably him upset?"
"Is regulus alright?"
"I'm not sure really but something is up and I know what it is. I just don't know how to approach him about it"
"Moony what's up with my brother?"
"I'm not sure I can't tell you right now. He can tell you. Just tell me how to approach him."
"Well. Get into a conversation. A normal one and then sort of bring up the topic and talk to him about it"
"Okay, thanks."
Remus went to get some parchment and a quill to write to regulus saying to meet up.
"Remus. Is my brother okay? I deserve to know"
"Im not sure I can tell you"
"Remus he's my little brother Tell me please. I won't say anything. I'm just going to worry until I find out."
"I think he's pregnant"
"W-what no not regulus. He can't be knocked up. surely he's not that stupid. How do you know?"
"All the symptoms are there. Sirius you can't say anything"
"I won't. I'll pretend I don't know. Do you know who the other dad is? I mean you know him better than I do"
"I think I know"
"Who?"
"Sirius, I can't tell you. He's not out yet"
"Fine, I'll find out soon enough anyway"
Remus owled regulus telling him to meet up in the library. He said it was urgent.
Remus started heading towards the library thinking of what to say. Regulus started heading there as soon as he got the owl. He made an excuse that he forgot something in the library the day before because his friends don't like the fact he's friends with the marauders.
"Hey remus what's up?"
"Fuck it I'm just going to tell you"
"Tell me what?"
"Oh Merlin. Regulus I think uh"
"What?"
"I think you're pregnant" remus whispered this even though he knew no one would be around on a Saturday afternoon.
Regulus looked really confused. But the more he thought about it, the more the pieces fit.
"Maybe I am"
"We can go get tested okay. I think we need to regulus"
"Y-yeah. When can we do it? I don't want to wait to find out, I need to know now before I panic too much"
"we can go now"
"Okay let's go"
They started walking towards the hospital wing and regulus was really nervous. What was he going to do if he was pregnant? they walked in silence both unsure of what to say.
They arrived and remus went to Madame pomfrey.
"Hello remus"
"He's here"
"Oh okay. Give me one second"
Remus went back to where regulus was sat panicking.
"Regulus, calm down okay"
"Oh god remus why do I have to be trans?"
"Who knows? Same struggles here"
"At least your not potentially pregnant"
"Okay mr black to do this test I'm going to need one of your hairs. If the liquid inside turns purple then it is positive and if it turns black it's negative. Any other colour then it's inconclusive."
"Okay"
Regulus tugged at his hair and passed one of the strands to the nurse.
"Okay I'll leave you two here"
Remus and regulus sat in silence for two minutes. Regulus had covered the test with a cloth so he didn't see right away.
"How long till it's done?"
"I think around 2 minutes so it's probably done"
"I'm too nervous to check, you do it"
"Regulus it's okay. Whatever the result is you can change it"
Regulus said nothing. He just looked at the cloth-covered potion too anxious to move. After a minute he reached his hand out over the cloth and gripped it.
"You can do it regulus"
He listed the cloth and underneath the potion was a lavender shade of purple. Regulus burst out crying and sunk into remus.
"Remus I can't do this"
"You don't have to have it"
"I don't know if I want to get rid of it I can't make that decision"
"Yes you can"
"I cant"
"Tell the other father. He might want to have input. Although at the end of the day it's your body your choice"
"I can't tell him"
"Yes you can. And I-uh I think I know who it is. The father i mean. if its who i think it is then he wont care"
Regulus separated from remus' grip and sat up looking away from remus. He knew remus would figure it out.
"What if he doesn't like me anymore"
"James won't love you any less because you got pregnant."
"How do i tell him?"
"I don't know but you need to do it sooner rather than later"
"I'm going to tell him tonight"
"Are you sure? you dont have to rush into telling"
"It needs to be done, he deserves to know when I know and besides ill probably chicken out if i dont do it now"
"It'll be ok regulus. Don't worry about it"
"I'll try not too"
After a while madam pomfrey came and had a conversation with regulus about his options. He said he didn't know which was perfectly fine. Then he and remus walked out and started heading to the dining hall as it was dinner time.
"Remus please can you tell James to come to the astronomy tower after dinner please."
"yeah thats fine, ill see you tomorrow"
they walked over to their respective house tables and sat down.
"hey prongs, go to astronomy tower after food. regulus wants to see you, its important" remus whispered this to james when everyone else was distracted. james just looked at remus with alarmed eyes.
"wait how? what? how?"
"i figured it out. but anyway he wants to meet at astronomy tower after food."
"ok thanks for telling me"
after that the boys went back to their regular joking around until the end of dinner.
"right boys, i shall be back shortly"
"where you going prongs"
"somewhere"
"fine then ill interrogate you when your back"
"sure thing padfoot"
james started walking towards the astronomy tower. he was confused as to why they were meeting up now as opposed to at night but was excited at the eagerness. when he got there regulus wasnt yet so he sat down looking out over the hogwarts grounds.
"hey james"
"reg are you ok?"
"yeah.... no"
"hey whats wrong?"
regulus started crying.
"regulus please tell me whats up"
"james i dont want you to like me any less"
"reg i love you, nothing could make me love you any less"
"i uh im pregnant"
"what? how? well i know how but wait what"
regulus just sat in silence. what was he supposed to say now? tears were streaming down his face.
"are you keeping it?"
" dont know"
"well whatever you do im here for you"
"thank you james"
"can we tell people? not everyone just close friends"
"ye sure. please tell sirius for me i dont want to"
"are you sure?"
"yes"
"ok then"
"What do you want to do?"
"It's not my choice"
"But I don't know what to do"
"I don't know if I'm supposed to help you. It's your body, your choice"
"I know that James. Just tell me what you want"
"I don't know, having a kid would be cool, but we are still in school and I don't want you to get dysphoric"
"That wasn't much help"
"I'm sorry, whatever you decide to do I'm right behind you"
"Thanks, ive got to go now, meet me tomorrow at 11 in the library."
"ok, see you then"
they both got up and started heading towards the door when james grabbed regulus' hands and kissed him.
"together, always"
"yeah together, always."
they parted ways, regulus was relieved and james was anxious. how would he tell sirius? james got back to the common room and ignored everyone around him and walked straight up to the dorms where the other three marauders were laughing and eating chocolate frogs.
"heyyy prongs"
when sirius looked up he saw james faces. it looked very confused and shocked.
"james are you okay"
"sirius, i uh"
"james you dont have to tell him"
"we all know i do moony, he wanted me to tell him"
"tell me what? peter do you know what there on about"
"no"
"sirius please dont kill me after i say this"
"why would i want to kill you?"
"because i got your brother pregnant"
sirius' face changed drastically.
"james what the fuck? is he keeping it? will you be there? was it like a one night stand? My baby brother?"
"i dont know. i will and no we are together like bofriends"
"im happy for you james"
"thanks pete"
"What did you say when he asked if you want it?"
"How did you know he was going to ask?"
"I gave him the idea because he doesn't know what to do do"
"Oh fair enough, we'll I said his body his choice, would be cool to have a kid but we are in school and don't want him to feel dysphoric"
"That won't help him much"
"I know"
Sirius was sat on his bed zoned out. He was confused, shocked and relieved. He was happy it was James' and not some random slytherin but it's his real brother and his fake brother.
"Hey sirius you ok?"
"Yeah Pete I am"
"Might want to zone back in soon"
"Yeah, yeah I will"
"Hey at least it's not some random slytherin"
"I was just thinking that"
"You trust James right?"
"Yeah I do"
"Be supportive"
"I will do, I just don't know how long it will take to get me head around"
"Regulus might not keep it so you might not need to get your head around it"
Remus chimed in, "What are you two talking about?"
"Stuff"
"Padfoot im sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen"
"Well it's too late now"
"Yeah I know, but I really didn't mean for it to happen"
"I know James. I trust you"
"Thanks pads"
"Now for the big brother talk"
"Oh god, please help me"
"If you dare leave my brother, hurt my brother, force my brother to do anything and do anything bad to my brother you are dead to me. Okay?"
"I won't don't worry. I love him"
"How much?"
"What does that mean?"
"How much do you love him"
"a bloody fucking lot"
"Fine, good"
———————————————
The next morning James woke up still confused as ever but also worried. Was regulus going to be okay? What is he going to do? What if he keeps it? What will happen?
Questions raced through his head at a mile a minute until he was interrupted.
"James are you okay?"
"Yeah Pete"
"James you can talk to me"
"I know, I just still haven't really digested it yet"
"That's fair enough. Do you want regulus to keep it?"
"I really don't know. It would be cool having a kid but at the end of the day it's not my choice"
"When are you going to find out what he's doing?"
"Today I think. I'm meeting him in the library"
"Ok, how long have you been going out with him?"
"Around I think 6 or 7 months"
"Wow, you could've told us"
"I know, I was going to tell you at one point but sirius walked in"
"He trusts you yknow"
"I know but I just don't want him to be weirded out"
"He'll always be weirded out, it's his little brother and what he likes to think is his brother"
"Enough about me. How are you?"
"Im alright"
"That's good, so you got a partner?"
"Yeah"
"Wait really?"
"Yep"
"How long? Who? How come you didn't say?"
"3 months and I didn't say because I wanted to make sure it was working out"
"Who?"
"Well, uh they are in ravenclaw"
"What's their name?"
"There name is Knox saad"
"Wow, now that I think about it, you work perfectly together. I don't know them much but I see it"
Peter just smiled at this. Conversations like this didn't happen often in the dorms.
"What are they like?"
"They are really nice, and just perfect"
"Well none of the marauders are single now"
"That is true"
"What time is it?"
"8"
"Let me wake them two up then we can go down for breakfast"
"Okay"
—————————————————
The marauders had been messing around and doing whatever all morning until 10:30. Peter went to go somewhere which James now knew that somewhere was Knox. It was sweet really. So after that remus and sirius decided to go on walk offering for James to come with but he declined knowing he had to meet with regulus soon. So he just wandered around for a bit until he decided to just go to the library.
Regulus was there. He was very dissociated thinking about everything. He knew he had to make a decision and he didn't want to take too long.
"Reg are you okay?"
This startled regulus.
"James what are you doing here?"
"You told me to meet you here"
"Oh yeah"
"Reg you alright? You don't forget things often"
"Just a lot to take in"
"I get you, though obviously not as much for me as you"
"Yeah"
"Sirius took the news kind of well I guess, he trusts me."
"That's good, please sit"
So James sat down and took regulus' hands to comfort him.
"James I don't know what to do"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what to do about it"
"Do you want to keep it?"
"I think it would be cool, but dysphoria and school"
"Whatever happens I am 100% behind you, and remember you are male"
"I love you James"
"I love you too reg"
"But what should I do?"
"It's not my decision to make"
"But you are one of the fathers"
"But I'm not carrying it"
"James I don't care, my body I want it to be our choice"
"Like I said yesterday it would be cool to have a kid, but I don't want you to be dysphoric and we have school"
"I'm sure there are solutions to having a kid"
"So you want it?"
"I mean, maybe?"
"Reg, do you really want to keep our child?"
"I-uh yes? No? Maybe?"
"Okay"
"I'm not sure, if I don't like it I can find some way to abort it or give it up for adoption"
"Y-yeah you can."
"James, promise me you'll stay"
"I promise reg"
"I want to keep it I think, it'll be cool having a little kid, I'm sure poppy wouldn't mind. Especially if it's got my genes"
"What if it takes after me and is very chaotic?"
"Then I'm going to drown myself"
"Whatever you say love"
"I need to go tell poppy I'm keeping it"
"Do you want me to come with?"
"Please"
"Okay let's go"
James stood up and grabbed regulus to force him up. They set off towards the hospital wing in silence. It seems they quite like silence when walking through halls. It felt oddly relaxing to them.
"Regulus hello, are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I just need to talk to you"
"Okay, you are very lucky I haven't been busy these past 2 days"
"Yeah I guess I am"
"Hello James, what are you doing here?"
James looked at regulus unsure of what to say.
"Um well, I wanna talk about yesterday and he's related to that so I think you can work it out from there"
"Ahh okay then. Do I have to talk to you about protection James?"
"No we just got unlucky I guess"
"Seems it, so what did you want to talk about? Do you want to come into my office?"
"Yeah please."
"Okay, is James coming with too?"
"Yes"
"Okay follow me"
They went and sat down in the office and grabbed each other's hands while poppy closed the door. She looked over before sitting down and smiled to herself. They were cute.
"So, what is it regulus?"
"I think I want to keep it but I want to know how we would take care of it"
"Well, one of both of you would get a new room to have with the child and during class it could come with you or you can find someone to look after it eg a friend in free lesson or a teacher with no lesson"
"That would work, and then next year when you aren't in school you can look after it at your house"
"I forgot about home, how am I gonna tell me parents? Especially since you live with us"
"We'll figure it all out"
"Yeah"
"Anyways that's all I wanted to talk about"
"Okay, I'm going to need you to come here once a week for a checkup and you can't do some things anymore because you have to talk it slow"
"What can I not do?"
"Strenuous activities such as quidditch"
"Thank god, now gryffindor can finally win"
"Oh be quiet James, and okay"
"Have you two thought about your peers?"
"Oh not really, I don't really care anyway. Slytherin already hates me because I abandoned my family"
"Okay, you two are smart so I'm sure you'll figure it out"
"We will do, goodbye poppy"
The two walked out her office and through the hospital wing to the corridors.
"We should probably tell the others"
"Yeah, I'll tell my friends later. Can we both tell your friends, I want to see sirius' reaction this time but I don't know if I'll be able to say anything"
"Sure thing reg, it'll be okay"
"What if it's not?"
"It will be, just think, a little kid running around DNA of both of us"
"That's the issue, your craziness and my problems won't make it a great child"
"You don't have problems"
"My family sure does, shit my family"
"What about them?"
"What if they find out?"
"Sirius won't tell them"
"But like there are other people in the school, and Dumbledore will probably have to tell them"
"Shit my parents too, I mean like when you come back at least you'll be protected"
"Yeah, actually going with sirius was the best decision ever"
" how are we going to tell my parents?"
"I don't know but we are together every step of the way"
"Together. Always"