Hey everyone! The first chapter of this story was brought to you by Insane Prompt List, Ultimate Battle Competition, Days of the Year, Showtime, Elizabeth's Empire, Scamander's Case, Gobstones, Crissie's Favorites, Game of Life, Camp Clean Up on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also for Reserve League, Quidditch Supplies, and Book Club on The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Also for Link Maker on Monthly Challenges for All.

Insane Prompt List: 436. (platonic pairing) Regulus&Walburga

Ultimate Battle Competition: Accessory Set Price 600 words (relationship) mother/child

Days of the Year: March 26th Make Your Own Holiday Day - Write about an impromptu celebration of something.

Showtime: Something Good (genre) Romance

Elizabeth's Empire: (character) James Potter I

Scamander's Case: (character) James Potter I

Gobstones: Brown Stone Grief, Accuracy (character) James Potter I, Power (trope) sharing a bed, and Technique (genre) Tragedy

Crissie's Favorites: (pairing) slash

Game of Life: (Era) Marauders

Camp Clean Up: Replace Straw and Lay Hay (AU) Royalty!AU

Reserve League: Season 6 Round 10 Chaser 3 - Write about a fight within the family.

Quidditch Supplies: James/Regulus

Book Club: (Title) Charm and Stolen Hearts

Link Maker: Harry Potter character used, 4,424 words

Warning for mentions of character death, fatal illnesses, discrimination, plots of revenge, entrapment, and several fade to black scenes. Word count is 4,424 words. I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of Charm and Stolen Hearts.

Prince James paced back and forth outside the bedroom of his ailing father. His father had been sick for a long time and nothing did seem to cure him of the malady. This time the cure had brought old King Fleamont closer to death than he'd ever been. They'd gone as far as to start making plans for James's coronation and his father's funeral.

"Your old man is made of sterner stuff than that," his best mate Sirius said, putting a comforting hand on James's shoulder that did nothing to actually comfort the prince. "He won't croak on us without giving it a good fight first."

"But he's already given it more than a good fight, Sirius," Remus, Sirius's boyfriend, and another one James's close friends, pointed out before being silenced with a look by Sirius.

"Remus doesn't mean what he says. He knows that your father is going to pull through this bout of whatever he has. He just has to."

James nodded as the door opened to his father's room. He looked up hoping to find that the doctor was coming out and that he'd soon have answers. The only figure that left the room was his mother's and she was being assisted by a nurse who looked rather grim. Sighing with a mixture of relief and fear, James sank into one of the many ornate chairs that lined the hallway they were in.

"Didn't you two have dinner reservations soon?" James asked, looking up at Sirius and Remus upon seeing that the time was almost six in the evening. "I wouldn't want you to lose them on my account. La Gato is a very exclusive restaurant, after all."

"We can go to La Gato anytime, Jamesie," Sirius said, looking over at the closed door where the doctors were still furtively working on seeing what was wrong with the king. "It's not every day we get to sit by our friend's side and lend our support to him in his hour of need. Now is it?"

Remus was nodding in agreement. He was saying something but James didn't hear what it was because at that moment the door was opened yet again. Standing and walking over to the doctor James could tell that the news wasn't good. The doctor was tight-lipped and looked grimmer than when he'd gone into the room. If that was even possible to accomplish.

"How long?" James asked in a breathy whisper, feeling the tear prickle the backs of his eyes. He tried his best to hold them back. Princes didn't show emotions to the public, he'd always been told. They wait and show them behind closed doors. "How long does my father have?" How long was he going to be a free man, to do as he pleased and not have the whole country's life depending on him?

"It's hard to say, Your Grace," the doctor said, wringing his hand. "We've made your royal father comfortable, or as comfortable as we can. But the problem seems to have moved on to your mother as well."

Just when James thought that things couldn't get much worse than they already were, they decided to show that they could. How horrible a son was he that he didn't even notice that his mother was coming down with the same thing his father had?

"How bad is her condition?" he asked, concern coloring his voice. "She isn't as bad as he is, right?" That was the last thing that he needed at the moment. To his mother and father die close to the same time period. "Is there anything we can do for my mother that wasn't done for my father?"

"Your Grace, your mother is not as bad yet as your father is," the doctor informed him. "We still don't know what we are dealing with but some of my colleagues are suggesting that is a mutating form of dragon pox."

"Dragon pox doesn't do that to its victims," Sirius pointed towards the door of the sleeping King's room angrily. "Dragon pox doesn't zap the strength of people as fast as whatever this is has done."

"Sirius…" Remus said chidingly putting a hand on Sirius's arm to pull him back.

"What? Tell me it isn't the truth, Remus."

As Sirius was led off by Remus, James looked up at the doctor the unasked question shining in his eyes like the unshed tears. He wanted to know. Not if he was going to be an orphan but rather when he was going to be an orphan.

"No one can answer that question," the doctor said sadly. "The one you don't want to ask but know that you have to." A sigh left the grim set mouth as a hand ran through the sandy hair of the doctor's head. "It can be anywhere from a matter of days to a matter of years and that is just for your father. We don't know how long Queen Euphemia has been sick for or how bad off her condition truly is."

"When will we find out?" James asked.

"I'm on my way to check in on the Queen and see to her health. I will let you know as soon as I know how bad the sickness is and what course of action will be needed." The doctor gave James one last sad parting look before heading off in the direction of Queen Euphemia's rooms.

A normal person would have been bent in half with sorrow and sadness at this point but as a Prince James couldn't afford to be seen as weak. He had to make a strong impression because when old Fleamont died he'd become King. Godric's Hollow couldn't afford a weak-willed King at its helm. They needed someone strong and decisive. Someone that could put their needs above his own.

"Have you told Lily yet?" Remus asked, breaking the silence that followed the doctor's leaving. "She deserves the right to know, doesn't she?"

Telling Lily that she was engaged to the soon to be King of Godric's Hollow was the last thing on James's mind now. He had much bigger things to think about. Like making sure that his parents were well looked after until they either got better, which in his father's case didn't look like it was happening, or they died.

"I will tell Lily when there is something to tell," James said, a breath he didn't know he was holding leaving his mouth. This was becoming all too much for him to handle and being a prince made it so that he couldn't handle it as a normal person would. He envied Sirus and Remus for their freedom to be themselves and act how they wanted. He even envied his cousin Regina on his father's side. She was happily married with two children of her own. While he was dragging his feet about planning his own wedding.

"You'll have to tell her soon," Sirius said, receiving a harsh prod in the side from Remus. "The look on the doctor's face didn't exactly bode well, now did?"

"As much as it's uncouth, Sirius is right about this James," Remus pointed out. "We can be there for you when you tell her if you want? But I would suggest telling her sooner rather than later."

The trio sat out in the hallway outside of the King's bedroom well into the night. Talking and laughing, although not a lot so as not to wake the King and most of all reminiscing about the good old days. They had been talking so long that it was rather shocking when the bell tolled half-past one in the morning. Sirius and Remus excused themselves saying that they'd be back in the morning which was a relief to James. He didn't think he could explain what they would have found had they followed him back to his rooms.

James had a deep dark secret. One that if it got out would have spelled disaster for him and for the kingdom of Godric's Hollow. The only person besides James in the royal family who knew was old King Fleamont and he'd soon made sure that his son could have his secret if he wanted to become King.

"What took you so long?" a smooth deep voice said from the bed. Lying on the bed in a suggestive pose was Prince James's deepest darkest secret. The one person he clung to most in the world. "I was beginning to think that maybe you'd forgotten all about me, love." The man's dark hair hung silky down his back. The storm cloud grey eyes shone more tender than ever they had. "Is it your father? He hasn't…"

"Not yet, my love," James said, sitting beside the beguiling man in his bed. He stroked the dark-haired head tenderly. "I lost track of time talking with your brother and his boyfriend Remus outside my father's sick room." Leaning down he pressed a kiss against the pink plump lips of the man he loved more than anything. "You don't think I would forget about our time, now do you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind as I lay here alone in bed," Regulus said, a pout crossing his face. "Although given the situation I do believe that this can be forgiven. It's not like you were with her."

"Let's not speak of such things," Prince James said, taking off his shirt and tossing it lazily on the floor. "We don't have long so why waste time on things we can't change at the present?"

"You're right," sighed Regulus, allowing himself to be pulled into his lover's embrace. "Let's make the most of our presents until we can change things."

Morning came far too soon for both James and Regulus and soon they had to leave their palace of pleasure. Regulus to go to his job at the wizarding bank Gringotts. James performed his duties as a royal prince, doting son, and loyal fiancee. He forced a wide smile at the sight of Lily waiting for him in the drawing-room. It wasn't that he didn't care for Lily, he did care for her. Just not in the way that everyone expected him too.

"Good morning, my dearest Lily," he said taking her hand and kissing it gently. "I hope that your rest was well?"

Lily nodded. "It was," she said, by the looks of her she was faking her own smile too. "How is your father today?"

Was this how their life was going to be as long as King Fleamont lived? Tentative small talk and hoping that the King would finally take his last breath. "He seems to be well today," James said, smiling another forced smile. "He's a strong-willed old man. It will take more than just a bout of dragon pox to fell him."

A rathered harried look man in the uniform of the household staff walked up to the prince and his fiancee at that moment. He looked like he was both about ready to cry and about ready to pass out. The man looked into James's eyes and he instantly knew that it had something do with either his mother or father.

"Your Grace," the man, a butler of fifty-some years said, a sadness in his voice that chilled James blood, "it is your father. You are needed right away." He motioned for James to follow him and with a cold feeling in his stomach, James got up and did.

They walked through the halls that once seemed so cheery and happy. The halls that had once held laughter and fake joust with pillows. The halls that had once been the home of a family. The cold was cutting through to James's bones and every step he took closer to the hall that led to his father's room was laced with foreboding.

Before they turned the corner into the hall that led outside his father's room, they heard the sounds of wailing. Upon turning the corner James caught sight of his mother outside of his father's room. The nurse who'd lead her from the room yesterday helping her into a chair. Everyone that was surrounding the room had a grim look upon their face and James couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of relief creep up his spine.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, stepping closer to make sure that his mother was alright but being stopped before he could reach her side. "What is going on here?"

"Your Majesty's father has just passed," the doctor said, walking out of the room. "It was in his sleep and he didn't feel a thing."

The coldness pressed down on James but something else was present too. Something he didn't want to admit he was feeling at the moment of his father's death. Happiness filled him. Happiness that his father's edict that he had to marry Lily instead of the one he truly wished to be with filled him.

The conflicting emotions ran through him like a freight train. Sadness over the passing of his father but happiness for his ability to be with Regulus in the open now. To be able to kiss the man he loved in public. To be able to share a room with him and not have anyone question what he was doing.

"Your Majesty," a voice called out, arms grasped him as a falling sensation filled James's head. "Someone get me a chair."

The voice was that of the doctor, who was helping James into the chair on the opposite side of the hallway from his mother. He could hear his mother's wailing for his father as though from a distance. He was King now. He was the one to make the rules. The cold dread returned because in his heart of hearts he knew that nothing was going to change right away. That even his choice of a partner was not his own anymore. Two men could not produce offspring of their own. A fact that his father had made pretty clear to James when he arranged the marriage pact with Lily and her Muggle family.

Regulus's POV:

His mother's face held a glee to it that shouldn't have been there as he told her of all the things he'd done to the Prince the night before. A malicious glee, his older brother Sirius would have called it. He didn't know what to believe, but Regulus knew in his heart of hearts that he hadn't been thrust into James Potter's path without a reason. His mother always had some sort of angle to play and he wanted to know what it was more than ever.

"What are you playing at, Mother?" Regulus asked as she filled his plate to the brim with all of his favorite foods. "Why does it feel like there is something that I am not being told about? I wasn't thrown into James Potter's path without a purpose. I know that much. I know that you've always got a plan brewing. So what are you up to in that sinister head of yours and why must I play the part of your pawn?"

Queen Walburga of Grimmauld Place stopped and looked at her youngest son. A wicked smile stretched her features and gave her a more sinister bearing. "Have I told why your older brother Sirius was truly disowned?" she asked, knowing full well that Sirius's disowning was a topic that would pique Regulus's interest. "What truly led to him being unable to come back to our way of thought?"

"You hadn't told me." Regulus felt his heart rate speed. He'd seen his brother about the palace in Godric's Hollow while sneaking in to have his trysts with Prince...no, King James, now. He'd always wanted to go and talk to him. Ask him why he had been disowned and now his own mother was using this fact to get her own way. He looked at his mother expectantly. "Well, you have a captive audience, my lady, Mother. Do tell why Sirius was truly disowned." He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the opposite one much the way that Sirius used when he was trying to upset their mother.

"They changed him," Walburga said in a low voice, almost a whisper. "They changed your brother. It happened slowly. He kept talking about his friends and all these opinions that were not quite the opinions that true Pureblood son should have." She ran a hand over long black hair that had been woven into a plait down her back.

"Opinions? That's why Sirius was truly disowned from our family? Opinions?"

"Not just opinions," snapped Walburga, bringing a hand to her mouth to cover the trembling of it. "That was how it started. You remember that silly girl he used to bring about and flirt with all the time? Marly? Miley? Mellie?"

"Marlene," Regulus piped up helpfully.

"Yes. Her. Well, over time she slowly but surely stopped making an appearance and was replaced with someone else."

Regulus rolled his eyes. Everyone knew that his brother was rather popular with the ladies. It really didn't come to any surprise that he'd quickly tire of one and replace her with another one in the shortest of spans.

"If you are trying to shock me," Regulus said, a heavy sigh leaving his mouth, "you need to try much harder than that. Sirius has had many girlfriends over the years and it is no surprise to me that he'd tire of one as quickly as you've mentioned. Don't' tell me, the other girl was a Muggle, right?"

"There was no other girl. The person she was replaced by was introduced to us as a friend of his from Hogwarts. A young man by the name of Remus Lupin." At Regulus's shocked look another triumphant smile formed on her face. She'd found a way to shock and gain her unruly son's attention. "Thing progressed much as they had with Marlene. He'd flirt and bat his eyes at this Remus and it made your father and I sick to our stomachs to see it."

"Then why are you so happy about what I'm being sent to do to the king of Godric's Hollow, Mother? I'm confused and you are not doing a thing to make things any less confusing than they already are."

"The flirting became dating," Walburga said, pushing past what her son had just said and continued with the information that she wanted him to know. The way that would make him compliant with the plan at hand. "Until one day your father and I came home and found him and this Remus in bed together."

"I'm still not understanding why you would condone what I'm doing and not what happened between Sirius and this Remus," Regulus said. "Aren't you making me do much the same thing with the King of Godric's Hollow?"

"If what I'm going to tell you next is true," the sinister smile returned to Walburga's face as she spoke, "you must make sure that you are not the one to be ruined." At Regulus's confused face, she let an exasperated sigh. "The King and Queen of Godric's Hollow knew about what was going on with Sirius and Remus and allowed it to happen under their roof. If they can allow this family's heir to be ruined, it is only fair that we ruin their heir."

"How are we going to ruin their heir?" Regulus asked, knowing by the look on his mother's face that was were the scheming part would creep in. "What are you planning, Mother, and why must I be a part of it? Haven't I done enough in your vendetta against the Potters?"

"You shall do this for me and you shall do it with no argument," Walburga said, towering over Regulus. "After all, you did say that James Potter was in love with you. That he'd told you of a wish to be with you."

Regulus nodded.

Walburga held out a bottle of the family's most expensive wine. "You will take this over to the palace at Godric's Hollow when you go there tonight for your little tryst," she said. "There is a powerful potion hidden in the wine and you must make sure that James Potter drinks it before you make love to him. Do you understand, my loyal son?"

"Not quite. Why would it matter when we drink wine?"

Walburga told Regulus about what the potion would do to the user. Regulus couldn't believe his ears. She was talking about the impossible happening because of this potion. Maybe the fact that she still wasn't over Sirius's betrayal of his family had finally gotten to her. But she wouldn't take no for an answer and Regulus found himself agreeing to go along with the plan. He only hoped that in the end James Potter, King of Godric's Hollow would find it in his heart of hearts to forgive the man he claimed to love.

James's POV:

James looked at the almost empty bottle of wine through bleary eyes. The full cup in his hand felt like the only thing besides Regulus that was keeping him afloat at the moment. He'd spent the past hours preparing a funeral for his father, preparing his own coronation, making wedding plans with Lily, and preparing himself for tonight. This exact hour to be precise. A drunken smile crossed his face as he watched Regulus look into his still full first cup of wine.

"Is something wrong with your wine, my love?" James asked. "I can see if the royal household has something different if you want?"

"This fine," Regulus said, smiling as he sipped at the wine. "I've never really been a big drinker but I figured that we should celebrate. Both your father and our freedom to be together as we please. Wouldn't you agree that a celebration is due?"

James nodded, downing the rest of the alcohol in his goblet and filling it up once more. He raised the glass in a toast, motioning for Regulus to join him. "Here is to my father," he said, his voice sounding plainly of tears. "The best King this kingdom has ever seen and a hard act to follow."

"Here, here," said Regulus as they both took a sip.

James raised his glass yet again. The half-full goblet's contents going to his head but James didn't care. He had to get this next part out. "To you, my darling," he said, turning to Regulus with a smile. "My Regulus. The prince who has stolen my heart and can keep it in his precious storeroom. Tonight, I give you all of me for the taking." Downing the last of the wine, he walked over and captured Regulus's lips in a passion-filled kiss. One that rivaled all the other kisses they'd ever shared.

As he allowed himself to be taken to bed, a cold sense of foreboding pressed down on James. Something was telling him he shouldn't be doing this. But the wine, or some other power, wouldn't allow him to stop. So he didn't.

The Next Morning

James awoke to the light of the sun streaming into his face. He looked around to see if Regulus wanted any breakfast, only to find the younger man was gone. He rolled to the edge of the bed feeling sore and stiff but very happy. He'd been dreaming of that moment since he'd realized that he was in love with Regulus. The real thing was nothing like what he'd dreamed of. It was so much better.

The door to his room banged open to a flurry of activity. He figured that it was his manservant coming to wake him and help him dress for the day. Only when he looked over did he see the harried-looking manservant and a panting Sirius. Sirius was holding something that looked vaguely familiar to James.

"You didn't drink this, did you?" Sirius asked in a voice that sent a thrill of fear down James's spine. "James, did you drink this wine?"

"I...We did," James said, allowing the confusion to enter his face. He didn't understand what was so important about finding out if he'd drank the wine that Sirius had to barge into his room. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Your Majesty," the manservant cleared his voice and nodded towards James's undressed appearance. "Perhaps you ought to cover up."

Pulling the covers around himself, James looked expectantly at Sirius. He had asked a question of his best friend and he did expect an answer. He didn't want to have to pull the King card but if the answer wasn't forthcoming he would.

"We? Who is we, James?" Sirius asked, mind racing as he recognized the smell of the potion the wine was laced with. It was a concoction that had been whipped up by his mother's Potion Master, an old friend of his and James's, Severus Snape. Sirius knew full what the potion could do and prayed to anyone who was listening that James hadn't done what he thought he'd done. Prayed that his best friend hadn't given himself to the lover he thought no one knew about.

"Regulus and I," James said. "Is something wrong?"

James watched as Sirius paced back and forth mumbling about stupid decisions and how could he not think before he acted. It was all so confusing for James. He tried to follow the path of the mumbling but to no avail.

"What stupid decision are you talking about, my dearest Padfoot?" James asked, looking towards Sirius's face which had drained of all color. "Is it wrong to want to be with the person you love?"

"It is if that person is only being used as a weapon against you," Sirius said, holding the bottle of wine up. "This wine was laced with a very potent potion. A very potent potion that allows the user to do something that is deemed impossible."

He turned towards the manservant and whisper something him. James could catch snippets of it but the most troubling part was when he heard the phrase, 'signs of pregnancy'. Why would there be signs of pregnancy in anyone? What was Sirius not telling him? The cold sense of foreboding returned with along with a need to be sick to his stomach. What exactly had he gotten himself into? Most importantly, was everything he'd built with Regulus Black all just one big lie?

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of Charm and Stolen Hearts as much as I enjoyed writing it.