#regulus black pining era

[yoursdeadlynightshade]

'I have sex with you a lot in my mind.'

But it's Regulus Black about James Potter before they got together.

[fiasco95]

James: Ooh here’s a story I like to tell people before we started dating. Even Regulus doesn’t know it—

Regulus: I know it.

James: Wait what-

Regulus: Yeah, the time you stole my zippo and didn’t give it back until we officially started dating?

James, appalled:

Regulus: James. Did you really think I wouldn’t have noticed? I smoked a lot. It was a personalised zippo as well.

James: What, so you just let me have it?

Regulus: Yes, my love. I knew you’d give it back eventually.

James, muttering under his breath but holds Regulus’ hand tighter:

[alltoounwellll]

a solar eclipse is such a good metaphor for James feeling like he’s taken a back seat in Sirius’s life after he and Remus get together

anywayyyyyyy

[my-castles-crumbling]

Marauders stans, what's your favorite Harry Potter book/movie and why is it Prisoner of Azkaban?

[starchaserdreams]

My fics on AO3

Alright, so I deleted my AO3 account a few months ago (thinking I was done with this) and orphaned all of my works. Well, now I deeply regret that. But I have collected as many of them as I could find here for anyone who's interested.

Jegulus/Starchaser

Temptation Eyes (Now Complete!) - My Jegulus Regency AU. Completed, being posted one chapter twice a week. James enters the London season hoping to find a wife. What he finds instead is Regulus Black, and he never looks back. But as implied by the era, it won't be easy for them. Background wolfstar, shown as a different approach to a queer relationship in the regency era.

Get Regulus Out - 82k, Rated M, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Working Through Trauma, No War/Riddle AU, background Wolfstar, background Marylily. James tries to convince Regulus to leave Grimmauld Place as Sirius once did, and save himself from his parents.

How to Spot Signs of Jealousy - 4k, fake/pretend relationship, mutual pining, miscommunication. After Regulus gets fed up with people asking him out because of his family name, he and Barty agree to fake date. For some reason, James Potter seems livid...and Regulus can only guess that it's because he's homophobic. That's got to be it, right?

But Where's Regulus - 1k. James on laughing gas after getting his wisdom teeth taken out and talking about how much he likes Regulus

Waking Up Slowly - 2k. James wakes up in bed with Regulus in the Gryffindor dorm, something Sirius might not take kindly to.

I've Read Your Book - 1k. Two one shots based on the same premise: Writer!James didn't even know Regulus knew about his book, let alone had read it, but Regulus comes up to him and says "I've read your book" aka the most exciting words of all time to start a conversation for a writer.

Little Ball of Fire - 1k. Regulus gets into an argument with Snape. Regulus begins threatening him, so James picks Regulus up and carries/drags him out of the room before anyone gets hurt.

Prongsfoot/Bambibelle

What's in a Name - 5k, Soulmates AU, secret crush. In a world where soulmates exist and can identify each other by the feeling they get when they say each other's names, it's pretty easy to identify who your soulmate is. But for Sirius and James who only call each other by their nicknames, it takes a while to finally know.

The Bachelorette - 15k, mutual pining, Bachelorette AU. Sirius and James are both cast as contestants on the Bachelorette. Although their stated goal was to woo Lily and capture her heart, they don’t quite manage it. They fall for each other instead.

A Real Marriage Under Wizarding Law - 6k, mutual pining, fake/pretend relationship, drunken shenanigans. Sirius and James get a quickie drunken marriage in Knockturn Alley. When they wake up in the morning, they decide not to get it annulled so that they can save Sirius from an arranged marriage.

The Only Transfer Students to Ever Come to Hogwarts - 9k, arranged marriage, hijinx, angst with a happy ending. Sirius is upset to learn that not only does he have to transfer to a new school, but his parents have set up an arranged marriage for him. James assures him that's impossible, but Sirius knows his parents don't make empty threats. (Written for Prongsfoot Bingo)

The Smell of Water - 4k, Amortentia, idiots in love. Sirius and James argue about what they're smelling without realizing that there's Amortentia in the room. When Sirius realizes, he becomes a whole mess about it. (Written for Prongsfoot Bingo)

Wolfstar

Wolfstar Microfics Theme: Love - 8k, a collection of 22 microfics themed around love

6x James Found Out, and 1x Harry Did - 10k. Six ways James could have learned about Sirius and Remus' secret relationship, and one way Harry could have learned about it. *This is specifically ATYD fanfiction, and it's set in that universe.

[mangomonk]

thinking about emotionally constipated regulus finally giving in to his feelings after overcoming so much yearning! pining! but also guilt of his involvement in the war/knowledge that he likely won't make it out

but that aside, thinking about him giving in to his feelings and trying to find the best way to demonstrate his affection to his crush but he has no healthy template or model of showing love. walburga and orion were not the paragons of romance so when regulus finally doubles down on his feelings he doesn't know what to do. but regulus, like sirius, is the same sort of brave that doesn't sit around and wait

so he begins courting her with the only shows of affections that he's really seen, i.e., literal pureblood courting traditions of lavish gift giving. it's painfully clumsy in the beginning — he doesn't know all of her preferences, but he knows she likes fruits, so he all but buys out any fruit-adjacent sweets at honeydukes. when it comes to giving it to her for the first time, he can't quite decide where to look when he rather unceremoniously plops it into her lap, but soon enough he can't quite keep his eyes off of her to study her reactions to the candies. he starts to think he's made a terrible mistake but then she smiles and it feels like he's been cracked open raw and he feels a little dizzy and from there on he turns into a crow of purchasing things that he thinks might bring that smile back.

across the months, from candies, it turns to fancy quills and ink pots (after she makes an offhanded remark about her quill being patchy), and once he realizes that a witch can really only have a few quills and ink pots, he turns to books, even considering asking remus for recommendations on muggle books (he doesn't though, because he's much too proud, but remus notices that sirius's little brother has been hovering around him recently).

soon it escalates to ridiculously fine clothes (though he'll never admit it, it is entirely intentional that the color of the silk dresses match with his handkerchiefs), and when he finally turns to jewelry, she stops him with a baffled question.

because with every item he's given to her, he's always just shrugged his shoulders jerkily and alternated between looking at the gift, her face, and the nearest window. he's always shortly said something along the lines of, "your old quill didn't even resemble a feather anymore," or "your clothes are drab," because even though he's made progress, regulus black is still too emotionally constipated to tell her he loves her, but he hopes that she knows (she does).

[nikolai-alexi]

Some Homophobic/Transphobic Arsehole: *harassing Regulus after he’s outted* what are you? a boy or a girl?

Regulus: *unphased and petty* do you wanna do a questionnaire so you can find out or kiss and figure out how you feel afterwards?

[floralembarrassment]

Don't Tell Me What the Poets are Doing (1/1) (jegulus)

It's was a quiet night in the Slytherin common room. Sleet was assaulting the stone of the castle so flying was out of the question for tonight. Tucked away in a corner, Regulus was sitting in an armchair, and his friends were all hanging out around him. Barty and Evan were sitting with their thighs pressed together on a small couch thinking no one noticed how close they were. Dorcas was on the ground at Regulus' feet and Pandora somehow found herself lying in the middle of all of them.

Regulus was scribbling on a spare bit of parchment he had carefully balanced on a book in his lap. Despite his better judgment, his thoughts were trained on James. James Potter. He wished he could be the kind of boy who could be with James Potter. He sighed.

Regulus stopped writing for a moment, pausing to appraise his work. Dorcas reached up from her place on the floor leaning against his legs, and snatched the paper out of his hands. She brought it down in front of her and Pandora's eyes, who was laying with her golden hair splayed out over Dorcas' legs.

Oh but if I was capable of kindness, of being sweet and soft and gentle

If I could touch without bruising

If I could talk without cursing

If my mouth could run over your skin without sinking my teeth in and ripping you apart

Oh I would love you

I would love you endlessly

Completely

Fully

But all I know is cruelty

I live in the cold

My heart seized by the frozen tundra

My faith trapped in the dark

My hunger only satiated by the stolen spirit after I've crushed your soul

But if I could

If I was filled with the warmth of the sun

Oh I would love you

"Did you write this?" Dorcas asked.

"It's beautiful Regulus." Pandora followed.

"No it's - it's just stupid actually." And then he tore the parchment and crumbled it up in his hands. "I'm going to bed," he said as he stood and then walked past the fire place, tossing the scraps into the flames. He stared only long enough to watch each catch fire but not long enough to see it burn.

"Quick Barty grab it," Evan whispered as Barty was already moving toward the flames. With his wand he pulled the pieces of the poem toward him and quickly snuffed out the fire. "Add it to the others?" Barty asked turning back around to raise an eyebrow at Evan, who nodded in return. "He has to be so dramatic sometimes," Evan said as he tucked the parchment gently into a book he had in his bag. Barty laughed as they prepared to head up to the dorm too.

[bunniesandsilk]

— Hopelessly pining

James after being rejected by Regulus

his chest felt heavy as another pang of pain thumped against it, the numbness he desired yet to be there. the aching pain became less of a sharp one and slowly more dull but always omnipresent as he thought about the small things about him, the small details the things he noticed which no one else seemed to.

the way his eyes seemed to almost gleam when he smiled perfectly highlighting his face, the way that scene remained perfectly framed by the hair which seemed to surround it.

[blankdblank]

Protego Pt 12 - Vault of Ice

Masterlist here

.

Fourteen and a foot taller, summer had come and gone without more progress out of the name search. But with height and a new figure Jewel’s body had been cocooning itself into creation, a change Lily on her own also bore through hard growing pains to get to her own statuesque stance nearly half a foot taller than her younger sister. More change physically, only gradually they had inched closer to their prior dynamic while out of school to be a more pleasant duo to be around.

Changes to make the pair all the more alluring for the highly self esteemed first year Gilderoy Lockhart to try and befriend them. Brother to two Squib sisters he tried to make the most of this school he deemed boring by the lower level of skills of his classmates and lessons he found little interest in and desire to work hard in them. He wanted praise, something that he gained little of aside from a few tries to get himself in the house papers, and in that task found himself ridiculous but tolerable to Severus and avoided at all costs by Dolph. So even to failed tries to get the almost Slytherin Lockhart who was almost hat stalled into Ravenclaw just as she was Jewels tried to get him to focus on his studies.

Only enamoring the boy all the more to ways he could copy her Veela allure to bring more attention to himself. Starting with notes on new ideas for special shampoos to make his wavy golden locks all the more suited for a would be celebrity and Wizard of great renowned aimed to be the youngest Minister of Magic ever. Even if he paid little mind to urges to study the eleven year old was in his own mind thriving in the right circles in school to aim him to fame with fellow theatrically minded students encircling Jewels and the confident older boys who did tend to flock after Lily.

Sure enough less chances to get near to the object of his obsession gave way to more time for no good, and that same annoying Dolph alongside an annoyingly conceited redhead named Patricia Rakepick had set something loose in the school. Four vaults as old as the school were one of the rumored hidden dangers many barely stomached whispers about them. The topic Patricia had been hounding Dumbledore and Professor Binns about since her first day to put some effort into finding them. Not just dangers untold but treasures alike were hidden within the three vaults. Some alleged that the vaults housed priceless treasures such as gold, prophecies, and other powerful magical artifacts dating back to before the school was founded, while others believed they contained Dark Magic. The Vault of Ice, Forest Vault, and the Vault of Fear, the first of which Patricia claimed to have been opened.

A sickness of unknown proportion had been let to run wild. One that turns people gradually to ice. Symptoms made easy work for Severus to hunt down an old potion in a decaying book he had copied in his first year for safe keeping and future use that was potent even in the first dose against the sickness while others took the preventative potion to keep from getting sick.

Lily was sick, as were all of Gryffindor students and half of the Ravenclaw students, including Lockhart. Those in the dungeons seemed safest and farthest from air current travels due to the maze of halls their dorms were hidden by. And here Jewels was singing to a massive Ice Bird that was clearly behind the beams of creeping ice and air. Down into a puffy mess of feathers the softly cooing creature curled up humming to the tune Jewels was singing, falling asleep.

Dragon, terrifying, powerful. And friends with an Ice Bird? Out of a secret door like a long snake the furry scale and crystal coated body of the Dragon moved to lift the sleeping bird and bring them inside that secret room that sealed again signaling the end of Jewels’ song.

“Jewelia?” Flitwick broke the silence, having joined the other Professors who heard a student was seen by a ghost racing here from the staircases above. She had come here to sing, and now just stopped as a formerly unnoticed open door Nearly Headless Nick was unable to enter alongside Professor Binns had shut taking its mysteries with it. “What did you see?” he asked curious if her Morpher eyes had found some glowing symbol or hidden warning somewhere to come and sing here.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t see that giant ice spitting bird and that Dragon.” She replied, having to detail exactly what she saw, including sketch copies as best she could manage of their appearance, then said in a pleading tone, “Can, we not tell people, I’m seeing giant invisible things now too?”

Minerva was the one to answer that, “Naturally, you have supplied us all the necessary details. No one else need know unless this happens again and we require your assistance.”

Hagrid asked, “What gave you thought to sing to them?”

And she gestured to Flitwick, “Professor Flitwick said my first year music calms creatures. The bird at least seemed upset.”

“Fair assessment, useful as well.” Flitwick said in a chipper tone.

“Fifty points to Ravenclaw, sharp thinking, Miss Evans,” Professor Sprout stated confidently.

“And ten,” Flitwick added making the adults and ghosts look his way. “For a masterful choice of music.” Accentuated with a nod the Professor shifted a hand to guide the young girl towards the Hospital Wing to get the limp in her left foot checked.

 .

 “I’m not going on a date with you, James!” Lily was heard exclaiming across their bend of the student filled beds.

“Oh come now, life is clearly short. No time to waste.” He tried to say smugly.

“You just hexed Kyle over there for no reason at all, why would I date a bully like you?”

“It was not for nothing, he made a comment about my pajamas.” James blurted out the pathetic excuse for his presumed well deserved justice.

“That is so pathetic,” she responded.

“He is irrelevant, we should talk about us and our date at Hogsmeade this weekend.” Accenting that with a swat of his hand to the side, “It’s fate, we woke up so near to one another.”

“There’s a Muggle word for people like you.”

“Charming,” cockily grinning back at her.

“Sociopath.” She replied plainly.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?”

“Someone who has no empathy or care for others, normally flagrant narcissists who target, torture and kill people they deem lesser than themselves.” His jaw dropped and she continued, “If you think for one minute I am dating someone who treats other people the way you do and saddling myself to some abusive self obsessed jackass you are obviously not competent to be a student here.”

Shouts ensued in a failed try to get her to think otherwise silenced by Madame Pomfrey who brandished her wand to charm the curtain around James’ bed that was now encased in a silencing charm.

 *

 Down another bend of the Hospital Wing Sirius lay unconscious still under the drowsy effect of the antidote that saved his life, and body from turning into an icicle. Barty on the bed beside him tried to not do more than snicker at Jewels who was levitating gummy lizard candies with her wand in a stack onto Sirius’ forehead. Clearly the sleeping teen was waking in the settle of the red lizard, and Regulus at the foot of his brother’s bed grinned. Levitating his own choice of a blue lizard that wiggled on the way over to the stack.

“What is on my face?” Sirius asked at the next snicker from Barty.

“Lizards, I’ve nearly got ten on my side of the stack.” Regulus answered in the task of carefully settling his lizard on top of the other wiggling treats.

Up to his face Sirius moved a hand to grab off one of the lizards knocking the stack over Jewels and Barty reigned in the scurrying treats they all split up, the former taking a bite of the wriggling orange lizard. His eyes focused on Jewels whose wrapped foot was propped up beside Sirius��� knee while she reclined in a chair beside his bed. “What happened to your foot?”

“Took a stumble on the stairs, just twisted it, nothing serious.” His eyes still stayed fixed on her. “Professors gave the all clear, classes start on Monday, only a few people won’t be returning to class, but school should be back to normal.”

“Did you pick to sit here?” Sirius asked and she shook her head.

“Only spare seat and Lily and James were shouting over an hour back when I got here. Sevy is still working on some more potions and you have another dose for your feet.”

“Does he get a chair?” Sirius asked teasingly, “If you got the last one?”

“He has three chairs to choose from.” She joked back.

“Hmm, and yet they placed you by me.” Sirius teased back with a spreading smirk, “Someone is trying to tell you something.”

“Yes, we need more chairs in this end of the wing.”

 .

 Tests kept the focus of classes going with recaps on the material for them to get the students back on goal. Two students out of the hundreds still seemed to be missing out of the mix. But much like how James and others of well off families had been punished pitifully Dolph and Patricia had been punished and cleared to be let out with the other students after the latter duo had been told to not do it again.

Heavier schedules in classes at least seemed to keep some of the fights from the usual trouble makers who didn’t care about their grades at a minimum. But like always there was a few big fights that set off and ended the year on a sour note for some, alongside some disheartening headlines of a seaside Muggle city that had been found attacked without a trace of why.

A mark of a build in power that over the first week of summer had Sirius leave his family home to go and take up the Potter’s offered spare room to get out of the suggestion from his mother to get in contact with the Dark Lord’s followers. He couldn’t take up the option at all for how he knew Jewels was afraid of Riddle finding her or who she was born to. He would do all he could to not put her in risk or draw attention to her from them in any way. But he did agree with Regulus’ plan to slip in as double agent.

Sirius would still daily take the bus to work around the theater to work with Alastor as a last means of defense in case something went down there. Surely his cousins were aware of a hunt for birth parents, but like the rest of the school just knew there was a chance of a new relation to one of the oldest and widest spread Sacred 28 families out there.

Though much like in school when tempers would rise up and a week in Sirius would find the Potter house locked. Then he would make his way to a new address. Not helped by the loving Potter parents, who out of desire to keep their only child happy caved to his each and every whim, even when it meant booting Severus to the curb without so much as a bit thumb his way.

Burned off the family portrait, Sirius’ cousin Andromeda had taken up a townhouse in London. Ample room and a friendship between the two already gained Severus the basement to make his own so he wouldn’t have to go home this summer while Lily traveled abroad to spend time with distant relations and Petunia explored a few of her university options for the next semester. Alongside the new address came the reasoning for the expulsion from the family tree, who she had chosen to be in a relationship with, Ted Tonks who seemed dead set on marrying her and knew all too well from her how aggravated the bond with James could get.

All Sirius had to do was knock and the door opened to reveal the lanky dark haired teen in need of a place to sleep and Ted grinned at him. “Blinky,” he said calling the House Elf who had been hired by Andromeda, “Go fetch Sirius’ things from the Potter residence and take them to his room.”

“I, have a room?” Sirius asked and Ted nodded his head to the side showing him in and up to the second floor, “We have the back of the main floor, and this one here is yours.” Decorated to close to his usual style by tips by his cousin, Sirius hugged Ted when he said, “All yours, every summer and break, no fights or sudden evictions.” But he pointed at Sirius, “But for the love of Merlin if you pour anything on my Unicorn’s Folly downstairs I will turn everything you own pink,” making Sirius chuckle, “Me and Clint are out to see who can make the stubborn plants sing first and I got it humming yesterday. No one touches it.”

“Agreed.” Sirius said to the pop of Blinky who arrived with the first bundle of belongings James had locked inside the guest room and left again to go and fetch the rest of the untidy mess made in dressing for the day with Jewels that morning. “Thank you.”

“Well, Andromeda heard you might be getting burned off too, and she could use some family, got a room for Regulus too, and Remus, if he’s up for it. Severus keeps mentioning some potion they’ve been testing together, would make for an easier time with that.”

 Pt 13

[mvnvgedmischief]

new chapter of unremarkable days is out!

unremarkable days: Sirius black is trying to be a good man, a good brother, a good person. Sirius has a steady job designing book covers for a publishing house, a flat he never leaves, and a traumatized brother who was just removed from the custody of his parents. All in all, it's wildly unremarkable.

archive tags: Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), ok so this is mostly just sirius trying to take care of a traumatized regulus, Modern AU, Sirius trying to be a father figureto his brother who was just removed from his home, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Artist Sirius Black, Writer Remus Lupin, Young Regulus Black, Past Child Abuse, Trauma, everyone is sad, Custody Battle, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Past Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Anorexia, Eating Disorders, Domestic Violence, sirius and severus are casually sleeping together, but snape is RELUCTANTLY in love with him, and sirius is like uh i am a bad person no, which is also why he and remus are just a situationship instead of dating at the beginning, but this is a wolf star fic

words: 74,467, chapters: 22/?

this is kind of my baby in terms of fics i’ve written, i love it so much. it will probably end up around 30 chapters, but lord knows. artist!sirius x writer!remus in a modern take on a high society young adult recovering from his fall from grace while trying to hide his sexuality, take care of his brother, and fall in love. will his secret self destruction be the only thing that stands between him and the future he wants? 

[333reads]

there's something so poetic about wanting and never being wanted back ( but it's about james' love for regulus )

[starchaserdreams]

Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending

3,831 words, 1 chapter

Based on a post I saw on Tumblr by Pluto-theplanet and Fandomtraveller20

Imagine Bartylus fake dating (for whatever reason) and James is so jealous that Regulus thinks he’s homophobic 

That is, ofc, until Wolfstar start dating but then Regulus is just confused as to why James looks murderous whenever Barty is with him

[prtfrmhrtbrn]

hello hello :) as we all know i am a pretty committed rosewater-er but that does not make me immune to jegulus fever. which is relevant to… what, exactly? the new fic i posted!

it’s an au based off the place beyond the pines, a 2012 ryan gosling movie (that my brother is rabid for and wouldn’t get out of my brain afyer he made me watch it). regulus is a stunt biker at a circus and james is a one-night-stand from a year ago :)

it’s only the beginning of it- i’m having an actual life currently, but it’s not going very well, so i’ve put it up now, because as things are going i can’t see myself finishing it- but it… might get continued? i’m unsure! either way i only posted it because i love the tone. if you read it & enjoy it, i’d love to hear about it!! <33 that’s all, thanku for reading this silly self promo :)

[mangomonk]

pretty little aristocrat

↳ summary: regulus and his thief attend the Malfoy ball as a first step of selling their cover as lovers to infiltrate pureblood society and get closer to tom riddle's diary ↳ content: fake dating, begrudging partners, slowburn, mutual pining, regulus is emotionally constipated, kai is emotionally unconstipated ↳ context: regulus black x thief!oc oneshot based off my horcrux heist fic, take what you can carry, on ao3

When Kai steps out into the living room of Jade and Sirius’s flat, she’s filled with a strange mixture of bashfulness and confidence — the first from the fact that she’s still quite uncomfortable with being stared at, the latter from the fact that she’s sure her choice in her ball gown and accessories are quite riveting. Luxurious enough to pass as Regulus’s significant other at Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black’s engagement ball — she’s so confident that she can imagine that even Dumbledore would be happy that he had chosen her to work undercover.

So when she steps out, in her glimmering gold ball gown, matching gold bangles, fur shoulder wrap, hair feathers — amongst other accessories she had accumulated from her years of thievery — she is entirely shocked when Regulus stares at her first blankly and uncomprehendingly, and then hard.

“No,” Regulus says immediately, blanching.

Kai feels something in her deflate as she stares at him incredulously. “No?” She echoes, brows shooting up as she regains her composure. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, absolutely not,” Regulus continues disapprovingly, his nose wrinkling delicately as his gaze roves over her. His posh English accent is pompous and dripping with disdain as he continues, “Your choice in dress is hideous. Awfully so.”

Kai gapes at him, the low burn of embarrassment settling in her stomach as she stares at him hard. “Hideous?” She repeats, her voice climbing an octave.

Regulus nods, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, but before he can continue, Sirius, who had been watching next to his brother, coughs, his elbow darting out to indiscreetly shove into his brother’s ribs. “What my dear, daft, daft brother means to say is that it’s…”

“—tacky,” Regulus finishes for him helpfully.

Sirius’s amiable smile twitches into a pained grimace as he shoots his brother a look out of the corner of his eye.

“I think it’s not bad,” Jade pitches in, stepping towards her to admire it. The amber-eyed girl had been watching in quiet interest from Sirius’s other side, her gaze strangely approving as she takes in Kai’s ball gown. “The fur might be a bit much, but I like it otherwise.” Behind her, Sirius is muttering to Regulus furiously, but at Jade’s comment, he stops and gapes at his girlfriend.

“Yes, but you also used to wear those awful pants—” Sirius begins, but cuts off immediately when Jade whirls around to stare at him.

“Awful?” She echoes incredulously. Kai winces a little out of sympathy for Sirius, who also winces underneath Jade’s stare. “You said you liked them after—”

“No, darling, I just meant—” Sirius backtracks quickly, his voice rising to a new panic, but Regulus cuts in.

“I just meant that they’re disagreeable to me,” he says evenly.

They all fall silent and still. Jade and Sirius’s eyes flicker from Kai to Regulus, who’s standing with an innocent and expectant expression on his face. Kai, on the other hand, is beginning to fume, the color rising steadily to her cheeks, not out of embarrassment, but out of irritation as she begins to work herself into an anger. It’s all she can do to prevent the hurt from showing on her face. “Of course,” Kai begins, ignoring the grimaces from Jade and Sirius. “Because everything just has to be agreeable to you, hm?”

Regulus’s expression falters, as if he’s realized he’s said something wrong. His eyes widen fractionally, and he straightens slowly, as if to not spook a wild animal. “That’s not what I meant—” he begins, but Kai has already steamrolled ahead.

“And what would you, pretty little aristocrat,” Kai fumes, “—think is agreeable for me to wear, hm?” Regulus quiets, as if then realizing that he should choose his words with care. Sirius steps forward, shooting his younger brother a warning look, but Regulus seems not to notice as an odd look flickers across his face. Kai watches as he smoothly fishes out his wand and waves it languidly. From his room, a carefully wrapped package levitates into his hands and he proffers it to her jerkily, his gaze fixating away from her pointedly. “Perhaps you’ll find this suitable,” he says, his voice revealing nothing.

Kai narrows her eyes at him, and when she makes no motion to take it, he tips his head towards it in a strangely odd-fashioned motion. Sirius, likely astutely noticing a brief deflation in her anger, grabs the wrapped package quickly and shoves it into Kai’s hand, barking out a sharp laugh of what sounds like relief. “Wonderful, Jade, love, why don’t you help her get dressed and we’ll see how this one is?”

Jade straightens quickly, nodding rapidly as she ushers Kai back into her room. “We’ll be right out,” she agrees before Kai can resist — or perhaps consider hexing Regulus. Once the door is closed behind them, Jade sighs a little as she holds out the wrapped package to Kai, who takes it grudgingly. “He’s just as bad as his brother,” Jade comments as Kai pulls away at the delicate ribbon holding the package together. “They can both be so emotionally constipated—” Jade is saying, when the words die in her throat at the sight of the unwrapped package.

Out tumbles emerald silk, the glistening fabric sliding over her hands like water as Kai holds it upright. The green is beautiful, vacillating between the color of ink and a deep green in the light. “Wow,” they both breathe out. Though Kai is stubborn and catches herself in her awe, she is also a thief with a vicious affinity to all things beautiful, so she holds no resistance as Jade begins to excitedly undo her corset to get her into the new dress.

“Why does he have this?” Kai grumbles as she slides the dress over her head. Admittedly, it fits better than the earlier ball gown — the fabric slides like wind against her skin and falls like water over her body.

Jade simply smiles at her in mild amusement, her gaze all-knowing as she shrugs. “I reckon he’ll find it agreeable,” is all she says as she opens the bedroom door and nudges Kai out.

When she emerges from the bedroom, Kai straightens and juts out her chin stubbornly at Regulus, who has also straightened from his earlier slouch against the wall.

Regulus is staring at her assessingly, his gray gaze heavy and roving, but unreadable otherwise. “Well?” She demands, eyeing him irritably. “Is this agreeable to you?” She didn’t think that her choice of dress earlier had been that bad at all — no, Regulus was just an uptight prude with no sense of fashion. Though his current clothes suggested otherwise — he was looking irritatingly handsome in his billowing satin shirt and finely tailored trousers. A heavyset robe of what looked like emerald velvet was folded neatly over his arm as he assessed her change of clothes. Distractingly, Kai notices that the emerald of his robes is the same color as her dress.

“Yes, it’ll do,” Regulus said shortly after a pause before turning away from her.

Kai scoffed a little, before hitching her skirt up a little to follow him. He was so bloody irritating that it was easy to forget that she tolerated him sometimes. “It’ll do,” she mimicked, purposely drawing her voice in his haughty manner. “You spare no compliments to a lady and you call yourself a gentleman,” Kai grumbled under her breath.

— — — — —

The carriage ride to the Malfoy Manor is tense and silent. Kai is quiet because she can begin to feel the nerves build in her stomach — the familiar ache of anxieties that begin to gnaw at her before any mission or paid job she accepts. But this one feels different — it feels like higher stakes and she can imagine all the ways that their night could go wrong. They needed to sell this cover so she could get closer to the diary, but what if they couldn't? She could imagine any of the Pureblood aristocrats seeing through her and Regulus’s cover easily — maybe they can see it in the way she holds herself that she doesn’t belong there, or the way she drinks or dances or laughs. Maybe Dumbledore made a grave mistake in entrusting this cover to her. Kai is so quietly engrossed in these thoughts that she didn’t notice that the carriage had stopped, and that Regulus had already climbed out of the carriage and had been waiting for her.

“Please forgive me and accept my hand,” Regulus says as he stares up at her. His hand is outstretched to help her down from the carriage. Kai blinks down at him a few times before she realizes that he had mistaken her silence during the carriage ride for stormy anger. While she had been angry over his choice of words, it wasn’t anything new — the first thing that Regulus had said to her when they met was that she wasn’t good enough.

But Kai would rather hex herself in the foot than admit to Regulus that she was nervous, so she shoots him a withering look to disguise any anxieties. “I’m afraid I might be disagreeable to you,” she says wryly, swallowing down her nerves.

To his credit, Regulus looks embarrassed, though she’s not sure if it’s because of what she’s said or if it’s because the other couples that had descended from the other carriages had begun to look at them curiously. “Your choice in dress was… eccentric,” Regulus says slowly.

“Wow—” Kai drawls unimpressed, but Regulus shoulders on before she can work herself into another fit of anger.

“But I will admit my words were quite harsh, and I apologize. Please forgive me and accept my hand.” Regulus is looking up at her through his lashes, and her mind goes unhelpfully blank despite her irritation with him. In their time together, she’s never heard Regulus utter any semblance of an apology to anyone, so hearing it from him plainly is quite jarring. She’s about to move to take his hand when he continues, his gaze flitting away from her. “And, on the contrary, I never said you were disagreeable to me.”

Not fair, she thinks, swallowing thickly. Her resistance entirely dismantled, Kai grabs his hand none too gracefully and steps down from the carriage. Before she can react, Regulus lifts her hand and bends over at the same time, his lips against her knuckles in one swift motion. Even though he barely brushes her skin, Kai flinches back out of pure shock, but Regulus keeps a firm hold on her hand.

“What are you doing?” She blurts, mortified, her jaw gone slack.

“It’s tradition,” he hisses irritably. When he finally straightens, his face is a mask of cool calmness. He dips his head imperceptibly at her and Kai takes it as a signal to step down from the carriage.

Once she does, he lets go of her hand immediately, his hand darting into the pockets of his sleek robes, but Kai pays him no mind as she straightens her dress and looks around.

The Malfoy Manor is large and grand, with rising marble pillars decorating the front of the mansion and beautifully pruned hedges leading to a garden. Glowing orbs of colored light bob gently in the air, lighting the cobblestone path that leads to the manor’s doors. They’re also not alone — other couples are getting down from their respective carriages, all following similar mannerisms that Regulus just displayed. 

When they enter the manor, Kai becomes immediately aware of the weight of stares. “They’re staring,” she hisses to him, though she tries to maintain a neutral expression and not one of panic. It’s difficult though, especially when she can see the unabashedly scrutinizing stares from her peripheral view. Being stared at goes against every fiber in her body, against every skill that she has survived off of thus far, but she holds in her panic.

“Of course they are,” Regulus murmurs. When she looks up at him, she’s irritated to see an expression of true impassiveness on his pretty features. If anything, he looks entirely bored as he surveys the room.

“I thought we were supposed to go unnoticed,” she whispers to him, feeling a flush crawl up the nape of her neck at all the attention.

Regulus snorts softly, his gaze finally flickering down to her in plain amusement. “No, thief,” he murmurs, quiet enough for only her to hear. “That was never the plan.” Before she can say anything else, he lifts the crook of his elbow and tilts his chin down imperceptibly at it. “We’re supposed to sell our unity. Now take my arm before you raise any more suspicions.”

Kai straightens, doing as she’s told grudgingly. When she loops her hand around the crook of his elbow, he stiffens a little. “You’re holding on too tightly,” he hisses, his eyes flaring briefly before it smoothes back into one of cordial blankness as he dips his head in greeting to a nearby couple that had glanced over in interest. Kai blinks down at her hands before realizing that irritatingly, he’s correct. She had been gripping onto his arm like a lifeline, her fingers bunching up the velvet fabric of his robes.

She loosens her hold immediately, taking a steadying breath. “I didn’t expect to be stared at like this,” she says, still feeling entirely tense. She doesn’t understand how Regulus can look so calm and unbothered in an environment like this.

“It’s because you’re with me,” he says simply, taking a gorgeous glass chalice from a nearby server’s plate. Kai eyes the glimmering details of the chalice distractedly before registering what he had just said. She narrows her eyes at him instinctively, thinking that he was being big-headed as usual, but Regulus’s expression holds nothing of his usual arrogance as he eyes the glimmering contents of the chalice assessingly.

He seems to sense her doubt because he just sighs, as if she’s being unbearably dumb. “I’m the only heir to one of the most powerful families in the Wizarding World. And I’ve never taken anyone to any of the bloody balls we always had to attend,” he continues, taking a long sip from the chalice. When he lowers the glass, his lips are stained scarlet from the wine. “Of course they’ll be staring.”

“Oh,” Kai says dumbly, tearing her gaze away from his mouth when another thought occurs to her. “Why haven’t you taken anyone—”

“Regulus,” a voice drawls from behind them. When they turn, Kai finds herself in the path of a tall, willowy girl her age. Immediately, Kai’s attention is dragged to the girl’s hair — long and adorned with delicate gold designs that’s glossy enough that Kai can feel her fingers begin to twitch. She’s beautiful, or she would be, if her face wasn’t twisted in a look of barely concealed contempt as it falls on Kai.

“Carrow,” Regulus greets coolly, dipping his head politely. 

“Alecto,” the girl corrects, a little smile playing across her lips. She really is pretty, Kai thinks as she tears her gaze away from the gold in her hair. “We’re on a first name basis, aren’t we?” Regulus says nothing to this, and at his silence, Alecto Carrow’s gaze slides over to Kai. “And who is this?”

Kai straightens, clearing her throat as she dips her head, mimicking the way she had seen some of the other women do earlier when they entered. “Mei,” Kai answers, dipping smoothly into her fake background. Though she wished they had picked a cooler name, the others in the order had wanted something forgettable. 

“Mei,” Alecto drawls, looking entirely unimpressed. Her brows arch as she scrutinizes her. “And what’s your family name?”

“Tian.”

“Hmm,” the girl hums, looking at her assessingly. “Haven’t heard of it.”

“I’m not from around here,” Kai says, casting what she hopes is a demure look, and to her relief, Alecto doesn’t seem interested in finding out more. Instead, the girl seems to have put her attention into scrutinizing Kai’s dress.

Alecto's expression betrays little outside of the Pureblood aristocratic impassivity that Kai has gotten used to from Regulus. Kai forces herself to not straighten, and instead leans into Regulus’s arm a little more. Predictably, Alecto's eyes track the movement impulsively. To his credit, Regulus doesn’t move away from her, but she catches the way his bicep tenses under her fingertips. 

“Beautiful dress,” Alecto says finally, though her lips are pursed to suggest that she thinks otherwise. “Where is it from? I haven’t seen it in this season’s brochures.” 

Kai freezes, but forces herself not to tighten her grip on Regulus’s arm. Frankly, she has no idea where the dress is from outside of Regulus tossing it to her nonchalantly earlier. Amycus seems to catch onto this because she continues, her nose wrinkled in thought — or disdain, Kai isn’t sure. 

“Or is it from Cordia’s? No offense intended of course,” her attention slides to Regulus, who has been strangely quiet throughout the entire exchange. “I can’t imagine anyone connected to the Black family giving business to a shop that sells to Mudbloods.”

Alecto lets out a sharp laugh, but Kai is scrambling to follow along with the conversation. Cordia’s? Brochures? She knew she was being subtly insulted, but she had no idea what any of these words meant—

“Isn’t it from Madam Delfina’s newest line?” A new voice cuts in. Kai turns to see a girl with ash-blonde hair looking at them, her expression one of perfect boredom. It looks even more mastered than Regulus’s disinterested expression.

“Aspen,” Alecto greets with a tight-lipped smile before continuing, “No, I didn’t see it in her latest brochure—”

“By newest line, I meant, unreleased,” Alecto interrupts, stepping closer to inspect Kai’s dress. Kai can tell that the girl is subtly impressed by the way her gaze roves over Kai’s dress. “Of course, only her upper echelon have access to those designs.” Alecto's mouth shuts, a flicker of cold irritation flashing across her face. But Aspen ignores her and turns to Regulus. “Am I correct?”

Regulus speaks up, finally, his voice strangely stiff as if he was reluctant to disclose this information. “It is of Madam Delfina’s designs,” he confirms. Kai’s gaze slides up to him discreetly, but he’s pointedly not looking at her.

“And how did you manage to convince her to sell this?” Aspen asks, her gaze roving back over Kai’s dress. Kai wants nothing more than to conjure a deep hole and bury herself within it than be perceived and scrutinized at this level, but instead, she stands perfectly still and matches the girl’s assessing stare. “I attempted to get my hands on this, but she refused me. Twice, actually. In fact, I didn’t even see this color.”

Regulus looks away, his tone bored as he answers shortly, “I had it made.” Kai’s gaze darts up to him in surprise. She hadn’t thought about the dress’ origins at all, let alone thought that it had any high society significance. He’s still pointedly not looking at her at all, his gaze roving around the room in careful disinterest.

In front of her, Alecto pales a little as she says, “Custom made?”

Regulus’s gaze turns to Alecto coolly. Kai finds herself grateful not to be on the receiving end of that, because his stare is unexpectedly chilly. “As you implied earlier, Carrow,” he begins, his voice cold. “Only the best for those connected to the Black family.” He pauses for a beat, his eyes flickering to Kai. His gaze is heavy with significance as he looks at her, his glower softening in a way that makes her breath hitch. “And she’s to become a Black.”

Kai, who has remained silent and still for this exchange out of fear of saying something that would flag suspicion, jolts at his words. Luckily, both Aspen and Alecto seem equally as caught off guard that they don’t notice her shock as they both gape at Regulus. The witches and wizards that had been hovering around them indiscreetly also go quiet.

“The rumors are true then?” Alecto blubbers, her eyes wide with shock. “You’re engaged? To her?”

Almost immediately, cold anger steels Regulus’s expression as he draws himself to his full height. Kai finds herself once again relieved not to be on the receiving end of his stare because for the first time, she becomes aware of how tall he is as he looms over Alecto. His body language is sharp and intimidating, power rolling off his figure in waves. Though she’s not on the receiving end of his dark glower, she finds herself forcing herself not to shrink away as he radiates cold anger. 

Alecto, however, is not as fortunate, because as she bears the full weight of Regulus’s vicious sneer, she wilts. “You were terribly mistaken if you had any delusions that I would get engaged to a Carrow,” He jeers, his voice vicious and cruel. Either Regulus is very good at acting or he’s actually angry, Kai finds it alarming that she’s not sure which it is. “Insult my fiance again, and I’ll speed up your family’s decline.”

At his vitriol, Alecto nods swiftly, her pale face rapidly turning a violent shade of red as she bows her head. Regulus ignores this and turns back to Kai. She’s caught off guard to see the harsh anger of his expression dissipate, replaced by an impossibly apologetic quirk of his lips, as if he had accidentally stepped on her dress. “Shall we go, my love?” He murmurs, his gaze tracking across her face carefully. Unlike the other whispers they had exchanged earlier, this one is loud enough for both Alecto and Aspen to hear.

Kai nods dumbly, her stomach doing a traitorous flip as she lets Regulus gently lead her away from the two witches. They make their way out to a balcony with little interruption, most of the other attendees swiftly moving out of their way, likely because the nearby couples had been eavesdropping on Amycus’s humiliation and had new fodder for gossip. When Regulus closes the balcony door behind them and turns to her, Kai is caught off guard to see residues of his irritation still flickering across his face.

Frankly, she doesn’t know what to address first — his jarring display of cold venom or his public proclamation that they were to be married. Kai doesn’t even know how to begin to approach the second topic without perhaps tossing him off the balcony, so she begins with the first. “Are you angry?” She starts cautiously, taking in the displeased twist of his lips.

“Why’d you let her talk to you like that?”

Kai blinks, surprised by his question. When she doesn’t answer right away, Regulus continues, running a hand over his face in clear exasperation. “You get angry at me for the smallest things, and stay quiet when she’s insulting you—”

“You think I don’t understand that?” Kai interjects, a flash of irritation twisting in her gut. She had just stayed silent during the entire exchange, letting this random witch talk down to her and treat her like dirt. She had told herself she stayed silent out of caution of saying the wrong thing that would tip off their cover, but deep down inside, she knew that wasn’t the real reason. “What I didn’t understand was anything she was even saying!”

The irritation in her gut spills over into frustration. She had never fooled herself into thinking she was a part of high society, though she perhaps longed for it in the darkest corners of herself, and now that she was in it, she found herself like an alien to the entire world. She felt out of place, painfully so. But she had felt out of place since the beginning, when Dumbledore had brought her over to Britain, when she found herself in the middle of some war that she didn’t understand, when she found that she had to work with wizards that refused to trust her skills.

“You are made for this world,” she continues, taking a step forward to jab her finger at the silk material of Regulus’s shirt. “Not me. I’m…” She had been counting on Regulus to take a step back, but he remains entirely still, and the space between them closes. He’s looking down at her with a peculiar expression, something shifting in the mercury depths of his eyes. Unhelpfully, she finds her frustration and anger mollified at their sudden proximity, her angry rant faltering on her lips, but out of spite and stubbornness, she refuses to back away and instead finishes a little lamely, “Why didn’t you just tell her where the dress was from in the beginning?”

Regulus, who had been staring down at her intently, looks away now past her shoulder stiffly. “It wasn’t important—”

“Not important?” Kai echoes in disbelief. “She just tried to make a fool of me because of my dress and you didn’t think it was important to tell me where it was from or even say anything so that I could defend myself and—”

“We’re together, of course you’re going to be wearing the highest end dress. I thought that much was obvious,” he says, sounding exasperated. The tips of his ears have grown pink, but Kai, in her frustration, cannot find it in herself to try to understand why. Because now she’s angry.

“Together!” Kai snorts, looking at the sky to bid her some mercy or patience. She’s working herself into a panicked anger now. “We’re not together, we’re engaged now because of your big mouth! They’re all expecting us to get married! This was never the plan— You need to go and clear it up that we’re not engaged—”

“No,” Regulus says firmly, looking at her finally. His gaze is unreadable as he stares down at her, the grays of his eyes black in the dim lighting. Kai gawks at him, but before she can argue any more, he continues. “There were already rumors circulating about my engagement. If we didn’t clarify it, they would have seen right through us — the Black heir would never entertain a public relationship if not to marry. And Alecto is the biggest gossiper, so it was best to just state it now.”

Kai quiets, her mind mulling over his explanation. “And for your sake, you’ll be untouchable if you have the title of my fiance,” Regulus adds slowly, his gaze carefully trained on her as though he’s approaching an animal he might spook. 

Finally she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. She still has the urge to be angry with him, but Regulus is regarding her so carefully and uncertainly that she finds her resistance dissolving rapidly. “Still, you should have told me earlier,” she grumbles. It really did drive her mad when he was correct. “And what am I supposed to say or do when people approach me?”

Regulus is quiet for a moment, his gaze thoughtful as he thinks over her question. “Just smile and nod,” he says after a moment.

“Like you smile at these events,” she snorts in disbelief, thinking back to his expression of cool disinterest.

He looks affronted as he frowns down at her. “I’ve mastered it after years of attending these events,” he says.

She rolls her eyes, clearly not believing him. “You looked bored.”

“No, look,” he insists. When Kai looks back at him grudgingly, Regulus’s cool expression of impassivity smoothens into an impossibly soft smile. He looks like a little gentleman and all, the corners of his lips quirked up politely. Despite herself, her stomach does a little flip and she finds herself unable to look away even as the smile slides off his face in place of a smug smirk. “See?”

“Yes, well, I don’t see how I’ll be able to master that in one event,” Kai grumbles, mainly to be difficult and to hide the flush she can feel creeping up her neck. It would have been easier to stay angry if he wasn’t so irritatingly handsome.

“Try it,” Regulus challenges haughtily, his eyes glinting devilishly in the low light.

Kai — stubborn, proud, and irritated — straightens and offers him her best smile, not too big, not too soft. Regulus stares at her blankly for a moment, before his lips twitch as if he was trying not to laugh. “What?” She demands, the smile sliding off her face rapidly. 

“Your smile is more of a…” he pauses, his eyes bright with mirth. “...grimace.”

Kai frowns at this, feeling her face burn with embarrassment. She takes a step away from him and turns back to the door, muttering irritably, “Come on. Before your lot of rich wankers start to get suspicious and think we already got married.”

“We can work on it,” Regulus calls after her, the laughter clear in his voice as he follows. Kai ignores this — and him — until he catches up with her and proffers his arm again. Grudgingly, she looks her fingers back into the crook of his elbow as he steers them back into the ballroom.

Inside, they pass by a boy with golden hair. But it’s not the boy’s perfectly coiffed hair that catches Kai’s attention, but a gold chain hanging from the pocket of his velvet vest. Gold pocket watch, she thinks automatically, doing the mental math to discern how much it might be worth. The chain wasn’t thick, but from a quick glance, she could tell that it was carefully handcrafted and from another glance at the boy’s rather carefree posture, she could guess that it would be easy to steal—

“Don’t steal anything,” Regulus murmurs to her quietly. He had gotten closer to her at some point during her mental calculations, and the warmth of his breath against the shell of her ear jolts her out of her concentration.

“I would never,” Kai says defensively, shooting him a look, but his eyes are infinitely all knowing and unimpressed.

“I saw you looking at Carrow’s hair earlier. And at Evan’s watch.”

Kai feels the low burn of embarrassment settle in her stomach and she finds herself unable to offer any witty defense. Regulus doesn’t give her time to think of anything though because his gaze flickers away from her as he says, “If there’s anything that you want— that piques your Niffler brain, I can just purchase it for you.” Again, before she has a chance to respond, Regulus steamrolls forward, his attention focused on the ballroom around them. “Ah, I do believe it’s time for the waltz,” he says mildly. Kai is still reeling — first from the fact that he had noticed her eyeing things to steal, second that he had offered to do something kind for her.

In fact, she’s so in shock that he had noticed — she feels entirely caught in the act, and she had never been caught before — that she doesn’t notice as Regulus leads them towards the center of the ballroom until it’s too late. “Waltz?” Kai parrots belatedly. Around them, couples have begun to take up similar positions, while around the edges of the room, single girls are casting wistful glances at Regulus. 

“Mm,” Regulus hums in acknowledgement, stepping away from her to give her a funny little bow. He blinks at her innocently, his eyes wide with clear anticipation. “It’s tradition.”

Kai glances at the couple next to them and quickly, but awkwardly, mimics the curtsy the woman does. “You’re mental,” she hisses, darting a panicked look back to Regulus, who is watching her calmly. If anything, he looks entertained, his eyes bright with amusement as they take in her visible alarm. It’s the most expressive he’s been all night — outside of his earlier show of anger. “I don’t know how to waltz—”

“Fortunately, I’m good at leading,” Regulus says dismissively, taking a step closer to her. He’s smirking now, clearly drawing joy from her panic.

It takes everything in her willpower not to scramble back away from him. “No one mentioned anything about—” She cuts herself off abruptly as a couple nears them. Around them, everyone has already begun to move in graceful circles.

“I’ll place my hand here,” Regulus says quietly, lifting his hand to hover over her waist. When he makes no other motion to set his hand on her waist, she realizes that he’s waiting for her response. Kai nods in agreement, swallowing thickly. There was no way out of this, it seemed, so Kai would just have to sell it the best she could. His eyes are laser-focused on a point beyond her as he carefully sets his hand at the curve of her waist. Kai has to remind herself to breathe as she tries not to focus on the warm weight of his hand over the thin silk of her dress, or the way that she can feel the pressure of his long fingers.

“What next?”

“Your hand,” he says curtly, offering his hand palm-up. Kai obliges, taking careful care to loop their fingers together. His hand is startlingly warm against hers, his touch burning.

“Like this?” She asks, her gaze flickering back up to him. Though his expression is impassive as ever, she can see the severe rigidity his shoulders have set to. Prude, she thinks in amusement as Regulus makes an odd sound at the back of his throat in affirmation. “You’re too stiff,” Kai hisses, casting a quick glance around them. “No one will ever believe—”

Regulus tugs her closer until her torso is nearly flush against his, his long fingers now firmly pressed against the small of her back as he begins to slowly lead her in a graceful arc around the room. Immediately, Kai unconsciously tenses at the unexpected proximity, even more so when he drops his head closer towards her face. “You’re the stiff one,” Regulus murmurs, his voice low as his lips nearly brush the shell of her ear. 

Kai forces herself to relax, despite the traitorous flip her stomach does. The bastard always knew what he was doing. She could tell with the smarmy smirk that had begun to curve along his lips. With her free hand, she lets her arm rest against his upper arm, slightly past his shoulders so that the tips of her fingers brush against the open v-neck collar of his silk shirt. At her brush against his collarbone, Regulus’s grip on her waist tightens imperceptibly. “That’s higher than what’s proper,” he hisses, though his expression impressively remains the same. They twirl past a blonde-haired couple that shoots them a curious glance. Regulus dips his head cordially to them. “Narcissa,” he greets briefly, before leading them away from the couple.

“I’m afraid I was never educated on what’s proper,” Kai drawls, smirking at the reddening tips of his ears. She readjusts her grip on his arm, mimicking that of the couples around them. Still, however, Regulus’s biceps are tense beneath her fingers. They fall into a heavy silence, with Regulus looking stiffly past her and Kai turning her face away from him to spare the both of them a little space as she tries not to trip over either of their feet. It feels as though they’re both hiding from each other, despite the close proximity. She was beginning to lose count of the circles they danced around the room when Regulus speaks up again, his voice thick from disuse.

“The dress,” he begins, his gaze flickering down at her collarbone briefly. Kai suddenly becomes very aware that her shoulders are bare and she can’t help but shiver a little under his heavy gaze. His pale eyes track the motion before dragging painstakingly up her neck towards her face. 

“If I have to hear one more thing about it—” Kai begins to complain, but the words falter on her lips at his next words.

“It’s not bad,” he finishes choppily. 

Kai’s brows shoot up and she nearly steps on his foot — maybe intentionally. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? If this is because of what I said about you not being a gentleman—”

“You look nice,” Regulus interjects, his fingers tightening almost imperceptibly on her waist. Kai looks at him in surprise, only to see that he’s still looking past her pointedly.

“Oh,” she says dumbly. She’s beginning to get dizzy, though from all the twirling or from his words, she doesn’t know. At this proximity, she can see the faintest of a pink flush begin to crawl up from the collar of his silk shirt. “Thank you,” she adds after a moment, though it comes out more embarrassed than she would have liked. 

She’s not sure if Regulus has caught on to her change in demeanor because he straightens, the careful scrutiny from his gaze dissipating. Instead, he looks strangely pleased at her reaction for the briefest of moments until an arrogant smirk curves over his lips. “Though I suppose I was the one who chose it, so the praise goes back to me,” he muses aloud obnoxiously.

Kai lets go of his shoulder to swat at it. “I’m the one wearing it, you wanker. Without me, it wouldn’t look this beautiful,” she sniffs.

“Perhaps that’s true.”

Kai freezes at his words, going entirely immobile. Regulus tries to continue dancing and somehow manages her to tug her along, though she nearly trips over her feet. With his hand pressed firmly against the small of her back, Regulus dips her down smoothly, perhaps as a distraction, but Kai’s mind is already hyperfocused on his words. “Did you just call me beautiful?” She asks as she stares up at him wide-eyed, her lips twitching.

She can see the pink flush that had been crawling up the nape of his neck bloom across his cheeks. “I did not,” he insists, sending her a glower as he re-rights her. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop thinking it.”

Kai grins up at him cheekily and for once, decides not to argue. Seeing Regulus Black blush is enough to feel like she had won. Regulus seems to sense this victory because he swiftly changes the subject. “In Pureblood society,” he begins as he looks past her shoulder pointedly in what looks like a calculated move to conceal his expression.. “—it is tradition for couples to wear the same color to signify their unity. That’s why your other dress wouldn’t have worked. Outside of how awfully flashy it was.”

“I see,” Kai says, choosing to ignore his other comment. “So why couldn’t you just change your bloody vest to be gold? It would’ve just taken a quick charm.”

“You look better in emerald.”

Kai’s heart does another little somersault and she makes a strangled sound, her eyes wide as she stares at him. She feels as though he had just smacked her right between the eyes. But Regulus doesn’t seem to notice as he lets go of her, the absence of his hand leaving an empty void around her. 

She hadn’t even noticed that the orchestral music had ended and that the floor around them was clearing. She’s still rendered speechless when Regulus finally looks down at her, his lips clamped together and a pinched look on his brow, some kind of emotional conflict flickering across his face before disappearing. He looks as though he wants to say something, but is unsure of how to proceed. “I’ll get us some refreshments,” he says after a moment, clearing his throat.

“Okay,” Kai agrees steadily, feeling the urge to be far away from Regulus before she says something regrettable. He nods in confirmation, his brows still furrowed as he moves away from her. Kai shakes her head a little and steps towards the edge of the room, where she tends to naturally gravitate towards out of habit.

She loiters by the wall for a while, enjoying the brief peace as she gazes around at the other attendees with mild interest. It seemed as though she was going to have a little break from playing the role of Regulus’s fiance, when a voice from next to her speaks up. “Miss Mei, is it?” 

Kai turns, wiping the wary look off her face as she assesses who was speaking to her. To her surprise, the boy with the golden hair and gold pocket watch is standing next to her. Up close, she can see that he’s about her age. Something about him reminds her of a child — she doesn’t know if it’s the way he’s peering at her curiously or his cherub-like demeanor, but she finds herself not as tense as she was when Alecto had approached her. Kai nods, giving her best Regulus impression as she confirms, “That’s correct.”

To her surprise, the boy breaks into a smile, his teeth flashing white as he beams at her. “I’m Evan Rosier,” he says, his smile jarringly bright. Kai blinks once before dipping her head politely. “Oh, none of those cordialities,” he says dismissively. “Reg and I are close friends.”

“I see,” Kai says, mainly because she doesn’t know what else to say.

“Has he not spoken about me?” Evan asks, his eyes widening in dramatized shock. “And to think we shared a dorm for seven years!”

Kai offers a nervous laugh — was this something she would know as someone in a relationship with Regulus Black? Not just a relationship now, she reminds herself wryly. An engagement. “I think he may have mentioned you,” Kai says hurriedly.

Evan’s incredulity melts away back into curiosity. “Perhaps. I’ll have to get back at him later,” he says loftily before his expression returns to one of curiosity. “I heard from a little bird,” he begins, his eyes bright as they assess her. “—that the two of you are engaged. How did you manage that? The Regulus I know is quite difficult to tie down.” Kai is silently panicking about how to best sell their cover, but fortunately for her, Evan Rosier seems happy enough to continue the conversation for the both of them. “I imagine he’s quite difficult to be around. That git — have you ever met anyone so emotionally constipated?”

Something about Evan Rosier’s demeanor and chattiness feels harmless — or at least, not as dangerous as the other attendees — so she finds herself relaxing a little. “You’re right,” she agrees, her gaze roving around the room. Immediately, she catches sight of Regulus’s tall figure. He’s holding two chalices as he nods politely to an older wizard. Across the room, his eyes snag on to hers questioningly, his brow furrowing in concern again. “But he can be unexpectedly warm at times,” she adds after a moment.

Evan, who had just looked curious before, now looks entirely taken aback by her comment. Briefly, Kai wonders if she had said the wrong thing, but Evan nods earnestly in agreement. “You’re absolutely right. He wavers between hot and cold,” he agrees. “Though I must admit you’re the first witch I’ve heard that from.”

Kai tears her gaze away from Regulus to look back at Evan in surprise. “Oh? What do people normally say?”

“I’ve heard it all,” Evan sighs mournfully. “Difficult, big-headed, a bastard. Ah, I remember one Hufflepuff — and you know Hufflepuff’s are generally known to be boringly kind to a fault — called him, and I quote, ‘an outright demon.’”

Kai grins a little at this, trying to imagine Regulus in school. “They’re not wrong,” she muses and Evan grins back at her cheekily.

“The most irritating thing was that he was still popular after all this,” Evan complains. “As was his brother, so it appears to run in the family. But all the witches loved his whole moody temper. And that’s not to say that he didn’t have fun with them either.”

Kai’s brows shoot up at this. “Regulus was popular with the witches?” She repeats in disbelief. “He’s such an… an old maid!”

Evan snorts, laughter glimmering in his eyes. “Reg a prude,” he chokes out, shoulders shaking with disbelieving laughter. “No he was quite the opposite—”

“Evan,” a voice cuts in smoothly. Kai turns to see Regulus in front of them gazing at his friend coolly. “I see you’ve become familiar with Mei.”

“Yes, I was just telling her all about your deviant behavior back at Hogwarts,” Evan says with a sly grin. Kai shoots Evan a wide-eyed look — why would he ever admit that to Regulus? But judging from the entertained expression on his face, Evan Rosier was an agent of chaos.

Regulus stiffens a little, a look of irritation flickering across his face before he looks at her carefully, as if gauging for her reaction. “Right,” Kai says awkwardly. “Sounds like I may have been mistaken in calling you a prude—”

Evan chokes back a laugh as Regulus runs a hand over his face. “Don’t listen to him. He was the gossip mill of Hogwarts—”

“Of course, that’s how I know all about your explorations,” Evan says amiably, seeming entirely immune to the withering look that Regulus shoots at him. Kai has never seen Regulus have much of a reaction to any of her jibes, so to see him steadily growing agitated around Evan is strangely refreshing. “You know, the girls used to call him the Slytherin Prince—”

“Evan—” Regulus begins, looking visibly vexed, but Kai cuts in hurriedly.

“Ah, is that something to drink?” Kai says quickly, before Regulus can hex Evan. As much as she’s enjoyed Evan’s company, she doesn’t think it would be a good look to Dumbledore if they were kicked out of the ball.

Regulus’s attention turns back to her reluctantly as he nods, handing her the chalice. “Elderflower wine,” he says as she glances in at the scarlet contents before taking an experimental sip. The elderflower wine is sweet and smooth. When she lowers the chalice, she’s suddenly very aware of Regulus’s gaze darting to her lips. Remembering the way the wine had stained his mouth scarlet, she dabs at her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Huh,” Evan says aloud, as he watches Regulus with visible interest, as if he just discovered something. As if remembering that he was there, Regulus narrows his eyes at Evan briefly before turning back to Kai. 

“I think we can go now,” he says with a little nod.

Kai tries not to let the relief show on her face. “Wonderful,” she says — and she means it. The longer she was in that ballroom, the more aware of how exhausted she was getting from bearing all the stares and interactions. Best to leave before something goes wrong. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Rosier,” she says as they step back.

“Evan,” he insists, before dipping his head politely. “And the pleasure was all mine,” he says smoothly, offering her a smile. His smile seems so genuine that Kai can’t help but smile a little in return.

When she turns to follow Regulus towards the exit, she finds that he’s watching her carefully. “You mastered that quickly,” he observes, sounding subtly impressed. “It didn’t look much like a grimace this time.”

Kai shoots him a sideways glance. “I’m not sure I was thinking about it much,” she says with a shrug.

“Hm,” is all Regulus says, his brows furrowed in thought or displeasure, she isn’t sure. All she knows is that he's still watching her carefully, his eyes tracking across her face like he's committing her to memory. With him looking at her like that, she's sure she'll never get used to be stared at. "You'll turn into a pretty, little aristocrat in no time," he says finally.

For a moment, before she can properly register his words, Kai's heart stutters. And then she recognizes her own words thrown right back at her. Shooting him a baleful glare, Kai straightens to match his stubborn posture. "That would turn your world upside down," she declares.

"Yes," Regulus agrees quietly, his lips twitching as he turns away from her. "I think you would."

[thebestofoneshots]

SERIES MASTERLIST

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Summary: You meet Sirius and Regulus at a family vacation in the Caribbean, but things don't go as planned and you end up losing contact once the trip is over. Years later your family moves to England and you get accepted at Hogwarts where you finally meet Sirius once again, along with all of his friends. One of them with a mysterious secret, that you'll uncover as you embark on your own Hogwarts adventure. Mostly canon-compliant. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Read Gilded Constellations on AO3

Read the French Translation by @nagareboshi-chiyo

Paring: Sirius Black x Reader / Remus Lupin x reader / Wolfstar x reader

Chapter average: 5k - 6.5 k

Content: Smut in later chapters, Poly!Marauders, throuple, graphic descriptions of violence, MAJOR and minor character death (this is The Marauders Era guys, you know), jealousy, angst, pining, love triangle, LGBTQ+ themes, The Wizarding war 1.0, implied child abuse, possible proofreading errors, mental health struggles, hurt no comfort, hurt with comfort, period typical attitude, first war with Voldemort, canonical character's death, fluff, Requited Love, F/M/M, mostly canon-compliant.

Status: Ongoing (Weekly updates)

♡ Indicates SMUT

PLAYLIST

01 | Summer Breeze

02 | Escape

03 | Bitter Sweet Symphony

04 | Rainy Days and Mondays

05 | Good times

06 | Crazy Little Thing Called Love

07 | Peaceful Easy Feeling

08 I Fooled Around and Fell in Love

09 | The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke

10 | Black Dog

11 | Do Ya

12 | You really got me

13 | Rebel, Rebel

14 | Maybe I’m Amazed

15 | No One Like You

Interlude (Q&A Event)

16 | Boogie Wonderland

17 | Tonight’s What It Means To Be Young

18 | Friends will be Friends

19 | Silver Bird

20 | Bad Moon Rising

21 | Fox on the Run

22 | Long Long Way From Home

23 | Hungry Eyes

24 | Peace of Mind

25 | I’ll get Even With You

26 | Hooked on a Feeling

27 | Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

28 | If You Want BIood, (You’ve Got It)

29 | With a Little Help From My Friends

30 | Bridge Over Troubled Water

31 | Strange Magic

32 | Come a Little Bit Closer

33 | More Than a Feeling

34 | You Belong to Me

35 | Chill of Desire

36 | Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

37 | Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

38 | Let the Good Times Roll

39 | Running With the Pack

40 | Hot Stuff

41 | Urban Adventure

42 | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

43 | Sympathy for the Devil

44 | No One But You

45 | Hold The Line

46 | Comfortably Numb

47 | Let Me Take You Home Tonight

48 | Dust in the Wind

49 | High Hopes

50 | Love the One You're With ♡

51 | Some Guys Have All The Luck ♡

52 | Twentieth Century Fox

53 | Too Much Love Will KiII You

54 | Sail Away Sweet Sister

55 | Noone Together

56 | Who Wants To Live Forever

57 | Play the Game

58 | Staying Power

59 | Break on Through

60 | Stone in Love

61 | Mr. Blue Sky

62 |

63 |

64 |

65 |

66 |

67 |

68 |

69 |

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BONUS TRACKS:

Your Theories, The Note, The Costumes, Sirius and the Chimney, Sirius and Vix after the bad moon, Evans and Vixen, Remus and Vixen at the infirmary, Remus holding Sirius at DADA, Remus and Sirius’ height difference, the FOXSTAR picture, Art by @nineloseteeth, We're going French,

Leave a comment telling me if you want to join the tag list

A/N: Most Poly!Marauders fics are oneshots, where the relationship between characters is already established, and they're all happy and pleased with it. No issues, no drama, but I WANTED the drama. Couldn't find it, so I set myself up to write the story behind the stablished relationship. I wanted to know how they started dating each other, the jealousy, the will they won't they, because getting into a poly relationship can't be an easy task, and I wanted to explore that story. If you're interested: Welcome to Gilded Constellations!