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The name Potter has always been an influential one, despite the family not considering themselves a part of the sacred 28. The power they wield is enviable.
They hold a prestigious position within the Wizengamont, they attend social gatherings and even host some themselves. Yet they refuse to support any anti-muggleborn causes. They can be civil with pureblood supremacist families at parties, but will tear them to shreds in the courtroom.
Even the Potter manor is a greatly sought after piece of architecture and is envied by wizards both rich and poor.
Simply put, the name Potter has power.
Regulus knows this, and he loves it.
But because the Potters have power, James Potter has power.
Regulus also knows this, and he hates it more than he hates anything else.
Because James’ power can be seen by looking at how many students throw themselves at him on a daily basis. His word is law to the student body, and not only because of his head boy status, it was like that before he got that title.
When James walks through the halls, accompanied by the rest of the Marauders, he’s the one who gets the most attention. People practically drool when he walks by. Because James is hot, the hottest person Regulus has ever laid his hands on.
And he has certainly laid his hands on James, because James loves him, and tells him so everyday.
They aren’t public with their relationship for two main reasons, though both reasons are for the sake of Regulus’ safety. Firstly, Regulus is the heir to the house of Black, so dating another man is out of the question if he's expected to reproduce, and secondly, because he would quite literally get ripped to shreds if the student body found out that James was his.
It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration. Regulus can hold his own in a fight, he is strong and vicious, but he knows what happens to anyone who has James’ affection. He’s seen it happen.
When James had asked out Lily Evans a few years prior several students had to be restrained by teachers and Prefects whenever they saw her for the rest of the year, so as not to attack her. James had felt horrible and had immediately apologized to Lily, who had calmly forgiven him and had proposed a friendship instead of a relationship.
Now, Lily is one of the biggest supporters of Regulus and James’ relationship, and she and James have one of the best friendships in their school, second only to the friendship between the Marauders.
When Regulus had accidentally left a hickey on James’ neck earlier this last month, several students had claimed to be the one behind it. There had been so many fights and tears, it had been a mess.
So yes, James has power, and Regulus doesn't know how to feel about it.
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The Black family is equally as powerful as the Potters, through their influence lies more within the walls of pureblood society.
Their views are different from the Potters but both families are cordial with each other nonetheless.
Sirius and James are best of friends, so much so that Sirius has left the Black family behind. A scandal big enough to bite Walburga and Orion in the ass when abuse allegations had come about.
Regulus had stayed behind so as to keep his parents away from his brother. It had been awful at school afterwards though, he’d been met with so much pity that it makes him nauseous just thinking about it even now.
People would look him directly in the eye and offer him god knows what kind of support, likely in exchange for their 15 minutes of fame.
Even though Regulus’ eyes are gray, his blood is Black, and people know this. Some of them still respect his title and don’t push their help onto him.
Those people, being unfortunately anybody that wants to move up amongst the ranks of the wizarding world by social climbing.
People such as Regulus’ classmates, who like to spew out pureblood supremacist bullshit in front of him, hoping that they will get to join his ‘inner circle’ or whatever.
People such as Snape, who is quite literally the least interesting, creepiest, greasiest person Regulus has ever had the displeasure of meeting.
People like Mulciber and Avery, Snapes heroes, already have status, though not much of it. Their names hold a little bit of power, but nothing close to the power that Regulus, the current heir to the house of Black holds.
Snape on the other hand, has nothing.
Snape knows this.
So Snape has made it his mission to appeal to Regulus by acting like the world will end whenever a muggleborn student uses even the tiniest bit of magic. Yet still drooling after Lily Evans and following her around like a stalker.
It's annoying as hell.
Regulus tolerates it though, as long as his asshole parents are still alive, Regulus is playing the part of the perfect heir. The second his father dies though, he’s using all his power to become the most progressive wizard pureblood society has ever seen. He's still unsure of the details, but whatever happens happens.
Regulus is not the rebellious child that his brother is. He is calculated and precise, he plans everything.
Because of this he keeps many secrets from his parents, one of them being his very intimate relationship with James Potter.
He knows in theory that his parents wouldn’t be one hundred percent opposed to him dating James publicly, considering that he is the heir to the Potter fortune as well as his blood status. Though they wouldn’t be able to continue the family line. How sad.
But he would rather not fight his parents when it comes to the blood traitor part.
Which is why he and James have been together for months without anybody knowing. Except of course their closest friends.
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Regulus receives the news of his fathers death on June 3rd.
That day he’s being rushed home through the floo and sent to Gringotts and then to the Ministry. His mother is moving as fast as she can to finally make him the heir. Which is quite stupid of her considering his plans, but it’s not like she knows what he’s going to do.
The next day he’s already back at school, new title in place. Everything is back to normal. Until the owls arrive with the daily prophet. There’s a shift in the energy of the hall.
He can feel the stares, he can hear the whispers, he can sense Snape approaching him, he expected all of this.
He did not expect Sirius to start dancing on top of the Gryffindor table while singing about his fathers death.
Regulus smiles to himself as he watches his brother jump down from the table and yell ‘Moony my dad is dead!’ for the world to hear before kissing Lupin.
Barty laughs in his seat next to Regulus and swings his arm over his shoulder.
“So Reggie, what are you gonna do now that dear old dad is dead?”
Regulus shrugs because he hasn’t really planned his next steps with all the chaos that happened yesterday.
“I gotta say, I'm super jealous. I wish my dad would just follow yours into hell”
Regulus smirks.
“Black!” someone, probably Snape yells.
Dorcas groans loudly. She’s always disliked him and his ass kissing, she's made sure that the entire student body knows that.
Despite how much Regulus wants to yell at him to fuck off, he turns to Snape right as he reaches him.
“Now that you’re in charge are you finally gonna get rid of your traitor brother?” Regulus’ eye twitches at that. “You wouldn’t want someone like him in your family, would you?” Snape adds, his voice laced with disgust.
To his left Barty freezes, he must be thinking what they’re all thinking. Which is, ‘he better not be talking about his relationship with Lupin.’
“What makes you think you have any authority on that matter?” Regulus responds in his coldest voice possible.
“It's only sensible.” Snape responds, “You don’t want someone like him to drag your name through the filth.”
“Someone like him?” Evan grits out, his knuckles white as he grips his utensils.
None of them like Snape, but they generally tolerate him. However, with what he’s implying about Sirius, they’re all seriously reconsidering the peace that they've been keeping. He must be asking to get hexed.
“A queer.” Snape responds.
The silence after that is very loud.
“You know? You’re right.” Regulus breaks the silence, he stands up and starts walking towards the table, Snape on his heels. “The house of Black is incredibly honorable and very prestigious.” He says with importance as he walks.
The idiot behind him just nods. Like a fucking sheep.
“The name Black would surely be affected.” He stops in front of the Gryffindor table and smiles at James who is staring at him in confusion. James’ gaze flicks over to Snape, who’s behind him and then back to Regulus again, everyone in their vicinity has gone quiet, likely assuming the worst.
Sirius has even stopped his ministrations, no one knows what’s going on, Regulus smirks at James and then turns to Snape.
“I'm sure my mother would rather touch a muggleborn than have a queer son, and my father is surely rolling in his grave right now.” he grabs James’ chin and tilts his head up. He hears several people gasp, including James.
“But…” he starts again looking at the Slytherin behind him, Snape looks around confused, no one at the Gryffindor table seems to mind as much as he does. Some of them are even smiling. To be fair, literally everyone else in the great hall doesn't know that Regulus and James are together either. “I really couldn’t give less of a fuck.”
Regulus leans down and kisses James, who immediately kisses him back with a smile.
The great hall explodes. Everyone seems to have something or other to say. Regulus doesn’t pay any attention to them, instead opting to turn back to Snape who is gaping at him like a fish.
“And since I'm in charge of my family, I've decided that no one that shares my blood will be allowed to associate with low lives like yourself.”
Snape scowls at him but recovers quickly “Good thing, I wouldn't want to associate with the Lord of a fallen house either. Since you’re so keen on ruining your reputation, I'm telling you that you’ll be nothing when the Prophet hears about this!” He smirks condescendingly.
“Like I care.” Regulus says as he sits down next to James who immediately kisses him again. Snape just makes a sour face and runs back to the Slytherin table while Sirius yells out "Bye Snivellus!"
Regulus smiles into the kiss while Sirius turns back to him and starts chucking beans at them.
There is truly nothing better than making Snape look like the idiot he deserves to be seen as. Snape seems quite embarassed.
Too bad Regulus doesn’t give a fuck.