The door slammed shut behind him. The sound merely a symbol of the life he would never be able to return to. There wasn't much choice to this, and little that could be done to change it. An agreement was and agreement and those weren't to be broken, especially not ones this old.

Regulus could barely imagine the foolishness of his forefathers. Who had thought to agree to an arranged marriage twelve generations in the future? Surely a Slytherin or Ravenclaw would never have thought of such a thing as even remotely plausible, but here he was.

Not to mention they had expected him to be female. Sirius had found that little fact hilarious, too bad he didn't know all the details of the agreement, or Regulus was sure he wouldn't have been nearly as jovial as he had been upon finding out. Sirius was waiting in the foyer, looking all too excited to meet the person his younger brother would be marrying, little did Sirius know…

"Mister Black," the black-haired figure greeted, and Regulus had to admit he had never seen James looking this serious. Or nervous, for that matter. The expression nearly came across as constipated… and Regulus wondered idly what James was going to do with that Evans girl now. He had always followed that mudblood like a lost puppy. It was a general expectation that they would marry after Hogwarts, but that wouldn't be after this ceremony.

"Mister Potter," Regulus greeted in turn, his eyes surveying their darkened surroundings quickly. There wasn't much to the room, a darkened hall littered with the occasional candle that only granted enough light not to be entirely blind within the confines of the room, but Regulus supposed that was better for the magicks that were performed within this ritual room. For that was what this marriage started with… a ritual that would bind them together. Whatever developed afterwards depended on both him and James, as Regulus doubted there was anything between them at this moment. Regulus hoped that it didn't develop into something he would truly begin to detest as it festered, like his parents' relationship had.

In all honesty, Regulus had rather expected James to curse him, for being a Slimy Slytherin, on sight. Of course, Sirius might have something to do with the fact that he wasn't, but Regulus didn't think that was particularly likely. The 'Marauders', as he had often heard them refer to themselves as, knew every way of getting out of trouble, and not being blamed for anything they had done. Regulus didn't think that stopped at fooling each other.

He had seen how Pettigrew stared at his friends when they weren't looking sometimes. It was revolting, but that didn't stop it from being a fact. A disgusting fact, but a fact nevertheless.

"Now that you are both here, we may begin…"

…oOo…

The lights nearly blinded Regulus as he stepped out of the ritual room. James hadn't fared too much better, if the cursing behind him was any indication. The ritual had used more magic than he had expected, who knew marriage took so much energy?

Regulus wondered how people managed it on their wedding days, especially since they were usually dancing almost immediately afterwards. He would never be able to climb up a flight of stairs right now, forget about dancing. Regulus was thankful for the very convenient chair that was right next to the door.

"James?!" Sirius shrieked.

Apparently Sirius had spotted them, then. No amount of tiredness would stop him from watching this. It was bound to be hilarious, especially since they were best friends.

"Sirius…"

"How could you! You promised!" Sirius shouted as he flew at James, curse after curse leaving Sirius's wand as he got closer, making it more and more difficult for James to escape or dodge them. Regulus felt a niggling hint of worry for James, but brushed it off. Sirius wouldn't seriously injure James, would he?

Besides, this was interesting. What exactly had James promised? Regulus resisted the urge to lean forward and show his interest.

"He's my little brother, you bastard! He's off limits!"

"I didn't plan it!" James yelped, a particularly strong stinging hex hitting the side of his torso as he tried to roll out of the way.

"Like I'm going to believe you!"

Regulus was starting to feel glad it was just them in this deserted corridor. Sirius's behaviour was embarrassing. It was as if he had never even glanced at any of the traditions that had been drilled into them since they were four.

"Sirius, enough. There was nothing James could have done about this. It was arranged centuries ago," Regulus said tiredly. Sirius's words hadn't left his mind, though. Why would Sirius think that James would plan this? There simply didn't seem to be a reason for it.

The grateful smile James sent to Regulus, did absolutely nothing to cause the tinge of heat rising in his cheeks. Sirius's betrayed look in his direction did manage to break the tension.

"You would know that, Sirius, if you'd bothered to pay attention to any of the tutors when we were younger," Regulus said smugly, and James nodded quickly in agreement, even though Regulus knew that James hadn't a clue what any of the tutors had taught the Black family heirs.

"You hurt him, and so help me, James-"

"You'll curse my balls off, I know," James said dryly, leaving Regulus to wonder just how many times they had this conversation previously to talk about it with such familiarity. Regulus was beginning to wonder how often he featured in their conversations. It had sounded like an odd idea before, but now…

"I'll be off then. Tell me if he does anything wrong, and I'll hunt him down," Sirius said as he left with little more than a nod, and a glance of warning in James's direction.

"What do you think will happen if I lied to Sirius about how badly you treat me?"

"I'll die a woman."

Written for the Pokémon Journey Challenge – Captured; Curse; The door slammed shut behind him

Written for Ancient Runes: Write about someone undergoing a major life change [Arranged Marriage!AU]