Chapter Text
1960
One early morning, the morning of the 27th of March 1960, a small boy with fluffy black hair and big brown eyes was born, with not a word written on his skin. Now, in another world, this might be expected of a child, but in this one, it is quite odd. A young woman and a young man looked down at the child, and the man breathed out one word, “James.”
~
1961
Over a year later, on the 25th of July 1961, another boy was born. This boy was born into an unfortunate household, the only friendly faces were an older cousin and an older brother. This boy never seemed to stop crying, and since his mother was unfriendly and quite tired from the birth, she sent off a spell to quiet him, unknowingly vanishing his vocal cords. The boy continued to cry silently for the next week until his father pointed out that he’d been oddly quiet, his mother came to the realisation of what she’d done and immediately tried to undo what had happened, and she managed to bring his vocal cords back, but when checked over, it was revealed that his vocal cords had been permanently damaged and that he may never be able to speak.
~
1965
The young boy doesn’t notice - or ask - about his bare skin until he was five and making friends, friends who had asked what his words were, and were shocked when he said he didn’t have any.
“Mumma, why don’t I have any words?” He’d asked one day, helping his mother bake bread.
“Oh sweet, some people are born with words, and some people aren’t, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find someone to love.” His mother swooped down to kiss his cheek, and he smiles up at her.
~
1966
Due to his disability, Regulus learnt to read and write at an early age, as it was his only way to communicate, so he learnt what his words were quite young, and one day asked his brother about them.
'Sirius, why do Mother and Father keep avoiding my qeus questions about my words? '
“Oh, well it’s probably because they want to arrange a marriage for us as they did with Andi.” Regulus frowned at this.
'Okay, but what does that have to do with my words?' Sirius gave a small smile as he read.
“Well, the words you have written on your body are the first words your soulmate says to you.” Sirius turns his hand towards his baby brother to show the words What’s up with you Posh Boy? “See, Mum and Dad threw a fit when they saw my words, at least that’s what Andi said.”
~
1967
“Oi Jamesy, what are your words?” Another boy, Peter Pettigrew, asked while their small group of Peter, James and Marlene ate ice cream.
“Oh- uh, I don’t have any.” James’ eyes flick down to his melting ice cream, he doesn’t like it, it tastes bitter.
“Oh! Neither do I.” Peter smiles at James, he’s missing his left front tooth. James smiles at him and the conversation flows onto Quidditch.
~
1970
“So, Regulus, what are you looking forward to in Hogwarts?” Andi’s husband asked, he wasn’t supposed to be here, but Sirius is already really good at sneaking.
'I want to meet my soulmate, they’ll probably be one of Sirius’ friends so they’ll be nice.' Ted had been confused when he first met Regulus, but after Andi told him what happened he gladly carried around some paper and a pen so he could talk with Regulus. Regulus liked Ted.
“Ah, yes that's what we all want. I hope you get to meet them, whoever they are.” He looked over at Andi when he said this. They really were quite cute, Regulus didn’t know why his family didn’t approve of them.
~
James saw his two new friends realise they were soulmates almost immediately after they met.
The Black boy, Sirius he thinks, was staring at the new kid, Remus, and Remus was clearly irritated by this.
“What’s up with you Posh Boy?” Remus snapped, his head turning to glare at Sirius. Sirius gasped and smiled.
My parents are going to lose their minds,” Sirius says this, a bright grin lighting up his whole face, he moves to take his gloves off, and turns it to show Remus, it read exactly what he’d said.
“You’re my soulmate?” Remus seemed extremely shocked, and Sirius was giddy. Remus pulled his shirt sleeve up, revealing a few more scars, and the words Sirius had said going up his forearm.
“Oh isn’t this romantic, you two meeting on the train like this.” James sighed towards them, glancing back at Peter to see that his smile was just as big as James’.
The train ride continued with everyone getting to know each other, and Sirius and Remus sharing small smiles when they learnt something about the other.
“So, what about you two, what're your words?” Remus asked. James and Peter looked at each other, and James let out a small laugh.
“Well, uh, neither of us have any, funny enough.” Remus immediately looks guilty and Sirius seems sad now.
“Oh come off it, we don’t really care about it, James has already decided that he’ll be a bleeding heart and I’ve decided I could care less about all that.” Peter immediately replies before an awkward silence could overtake them
They continue chatting the rest of the way to Hogwarts.
Sirius gets sorted into Gryffindor, and only James, Peter and Remus clap.
Sirius doesn't cry until they get to the dorms.
~
Walburga gets angry when she hears about Sirius’ sorting, and again when she finds out he met his soulmate, and that it was a half-blood.
Regulus isn’t as good as sneaking as Sirius is, so he has to write to Ted instead. He misses Ted.
'Dear Ted
Did you hear about Sirius? Is he still writing to you and Andi? Mother keeps on talking about how bad all of this is and how much of a disappointment Sirius is.
I hope you and Andi are okay, I really miss both of you. Write to me soon
Yours, R.A.B'
Regulus gets a reply from both Ted and Andi a day after he sent the letter.
'Dear Regulus
Yes, I did hear about Sirius, he wrote us not too long after you guys I’m guessing. I think Gryfindor suits him, he’s always been so brave it bordered on reckless. He’s been writing to us about his soulmate, they really are quite cute. I hope you know that your mother is being unrealistic and mean, you and Sirius have always done your best and that’s all anyone can ask for.
Andi has been great, she’s very proud of your brother, as I’m sure she’ll tell you in her letter, and I’ve been great as well, we’re starting to talk about having a baby, you’re the first person I’m telling this so I trust you’ll keep this a secret Reggie.
I miss you too, I’ve sent some books along I think you’ll like.
Yours, Edward Tonks'
When Regulus looked over the books he’d been sent, he saw that none of them seemed to be written by wizards. He smiled and put them into the trunk Andi and charmed last year. Then he read Andi’s letter.
'Dear Reg
I’ve missed you my little star, I hope Aunt Walburga hasn’t been terrible to you.
I heard that Sirius has been sorted into Gryffindor, met his half-blood soulmate and befriended a Potter. He truly doesn’t do anything by halves.'
Regulus chuckled at this and shook his head fondly at the idea.
'Ted tells me you wrote to him. I must say I’m wounded cousin, it seems like you like my husband more than you like me.
I’m sure Ted has told you that we are talking about having a baby since you’ve always been his favourite. I must tell you that we’ve only been talking and nothing is concrete yet.
I miss our talks little star, if you need to get anything to Sirius, you can always ask us, I know that Aunt Walburga would have banned the owls from delivering anything to him other than Howlers.
Yours, Andromeda Tonks'
Regulus smiled at the letter and moved to reply to both of their letters.