Work Text:
1-6-1972
James
James woke up to the sun beating down on his face. He felt lighter than he ever had before. When he sat up, it took him a few minutes to take in his surroundings. He was sitting on a hill overlooking Hogwarts Castle with the Black Lake in the distance. It looked so peaceful from where he sat. His school robes were gone, and he found that he was wearing comfortable Muggle clothes in their place.
For just a minute, James allowed himself to think about how his premature departure from the mortal world would affect those who had known him. He was sure his parents would be devastated and want to know why he had done it, but nobody would be able to give them an answer. He thought about how he told Remus he would meet him on the train, even though he knew it was a lie. Would he look for him, or would he just go about his day as if he had never met James to begin with?
For just a minute, James allowed himself to berate himself for allowing the people who knew him to hurt. He never wanted to hurt anyone else, but he also didn’t want to hurt himself anymore. He was no longer in pain. He no longer had to worry about what people thought of him. He was free.
Why was he still stuck at Hogwarts?
James wandered around the grounds of Hogwarts, enjoying the warm weather as he did. Towards the end of July, he noticed a commotion down by the lake. It should have been quiet. Nobody stayed at Hogwarts during the summer except for the professors.
Now that he had gotten closer to the lake, he regretted that his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He really didn’t want to watch them take his body from the lake. He didn’t want to watch as McGonagall fire called his parents. He didn’t want to have to sit there and watch his mother fall to the floor as his father tried to hold her up. It broke his heart, but there was nothing he could do except sit there and watch.
Everything was quiet again. James thought that since they found his body, he would be able to leave, but there was still something or someone keeping him tethered to Hogwarts. He lay down on the cool grass of the hill as he watched the night sky come to life. The stars shone bright as if they were talking to each other. And the moon was full. The new term was starting in a week. James could feel that that was important somehow.
James was sitting on the hill, watching as the professors prepared for the incoming students, when he was suddenly thrown into a compartment on the train with a raven-haired boy who was sleeping. He knew, at that moment, why he was still stuck at Hogwarts. He was waiting for this boy. His star. Regulus.
James decided, right then and there, that he was going to help him no matter what. He just hoped that he could hear him. James believed that they were connected, deep down, in his soul. Why else would he have been drawn to him with such force? It was like a rubber band being snapped back into place, and James felt whole when he was near him.
“It’s time to wake up,” James whispered into his ear and waited. He watched as he slowly woke up, and James felt the flutter in his chest explode when he connected with his stormy grey eyes for the first time.
James spent the next three years helping Regulus get through the low points in his life. No matter how much he wanted him to join him in the afterlife, something was telling James that it wasn’t time yet, so he waited. He waited and hated himself for making Regulus wait too. He could see that he didn’t want to be alive, and James understood that feeling all too well, but something had to happen. He just wasn’t sure what it was until it hit him over the head like a pile of bricks.
James hated having to sit and watch as his star got tortured by his mother. He could feel that the time was near, and as soon as he saw his brother walk down the stairs with a look of horror and pain on his face, he knew. They were waiting for this moment.
“It’s okay. You can let go now,” James said as he willed himself to appear before Regulus. He was ready to take him home.
~~~
28-6-1775
Regulus
Regulus refused to take his eyes off the boy with the outstretched hand behind his mother’s right shoulder. He was beautiful. Regulus felt his soul pulling him up and away from his body, and he went willingly. He walked over to him, and as soon as he grabbed his hand, everything felt right in the world. He felt whole for the first time in his life. He felt like he was finally home.
“What is your name?” Regulus asked quickly. He had to know who this sweet boy was.
“James.”
“Potter?” Could it be the same boy that he had heard about?
“Yes.”
“I heard about you,” Regulus whispered.
“I know.”
Suddenly, Regulus heard his brother scream, and he turned around to see Sirius cradling and sobbing over his lifeless body. He knew that his brother cared to some extent, but he didn’t know he cared this much. He watched as Sirius begged him to wake up, and oh, how he wanted to, but he knew he couldn’t. James squeezed his hand and pulled him into a hug as he started crying out for his brother, too.
“I know, Regulus. I know it hurts,” James whispered into his hair.
“What is going to happen to him?” he asked through his tears.
“I don’t know exactly, but I feel like it will be big. He was supposed to watch you die, and it’s going to set him on the right path now,” James said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Reggie. I love you. I’m so sorry.” Regulus heard Sirius say.
“I love you too, Siri,” he whispered even though he knew he couldn’t hear him.
Regulus let James hold him while they watched his mother deny that he was dead and turn her wand on Sirius. She had never done that before. When she finally decided that she was done wasting her time on Sirius, Regulus watched him look up at him, even though he knew that Sirius couldn’t see him, and the fire Regulus saw in Sirius’s eyes was pure red. He was going to burn the world down, and Regulus knew, right then, just how much his brother truly cared for him.
“I really hope his path involves destroying my mother,” Regulus declared as he remembered their conversation from earlier.
“Me too. I hated having to watch her hurt you. I don’t want to see you in pain anymore,” James replied as he lifted Regulus’s hand and placed gentle kisses on his knuckles. Regulus blushed as the corners of his lips twitched up into a small smile.
Regulus pulled James out of Grimmauld Place, and the second the sun hit his skin, he felt like he could take a proper breath, and the tension drained out of his body. They walked down the street until they came upon a little cottage that was calling their names. Once they walked inside, he knew that it was going to be their home now. It didn’t matter that they were still young. It felt right for them to be together. When he thought back to the last three years, every time James would talk to him, or he felt him near him, he felt like they were meant to be together, and Regulus was grateful that James was real and not just a figment of his imagination.
“Are we together now?” Regulus asked suddenly. He knew that he wanted to be with James. He could feel it in his bones, but he didn’t know if James felt the same way.
“I would like us to be. I have been waiting for you my whole life,” James replied as he looked into Regulus’s eyes. Stormy grey meeting golden hazel.
“Okay,” Regulus breathed out as he debated whether he should kiss him or not.
“Can I kiss you?” James asked quietly a second later, and Regulus nodded slowly.
James placed a gentle hand on Regulus’s cheek and placed a tentative kiss on his lips. It was Regulus’s first kiss, ever. Before James could pull away, Regulus wrapped his arms around James’s neck and deepened the kiss. It felt good. It felt right. Merlin, did it feel right? They pulled away but just enough to rest their foreheads together, and he knew he was in heaven.
They spent the rest of the night settling in before cuddling on the couch and watching the lives of people they knew on the telly. Regulus wanted to see how people would react when they found out he was dead. He honestly didn’t really expect much of a reaction, considering no one seemed to care about him when he was alive, aside from Sirius. It hurt that he found out too late.
Okay, so he knew that his mother didn’t care about him, but he didn’t think she would sink that low. Cursing someone to bury him in an unmarked grave and then telling people he was in France. What the actual fuck?! It seems like Sirius has shut down, too. Regulus had to stop watching after the first month, but now he was headed back to Hogwarts, and Regulus could see that Sirius had pulled away from everybody, even the couple of friends that he seemed to have. He was currently sitting in the compartment that Regulus always claimed for himself.
“Jamie?” Regulus called out from the living room. James was in the kitchen making them some lunch.
“Yeah?”
“How did you manage to talk to me, before I mean?” James poked his head out of the kitchen doorway for a second before coming into the room and sitting on the couch next to him.
“I just hoped you could hear me and tried. Why?”
“I want to try and talk to Sirius. He’s isolating himself from everybody.”
“Go to him and try. I’ll be here when you get back,” James said simply, and Regulus nodded as he made his way to the door. Once he was outside, he was pulled into the train car, and he could see what Sirius was writing and hear his thoughts. Okay, he can do this. It’s the least he can do for his brother. Well, that’s a thought.
“You could ask, you know,” Regulus whispered in his ear and smiled when he reacted. It worked.
“Reggie?” Sirius whispered back.
“Who else would haunt you?” Regulus laughed lightly.
Regulus told him what he told their mother that night, thinking it would make Sirius laugh, but instead, he broke down and cried until he passed out. That made Regulus’s heart crack a little more. He knew his brother would need more time, but he would be here anyway that he could to help him through it.
Regulus went back home to James and cried into his shoulder. All he wanted to do was help his brother. They ended up cuddling on the couch until Regulus fell asleep. Why didn’t he agree to reconnect with Sirius when he had asked? Would things have turned out differently? Why didn’t Sirius tell him he was trying to get them out of that house? He would have kept his mouth shut if he had… maybe.
As the months dragged on, James and Regulus got closer, but Sirius still seemed to retreat into himself. It was quite entertaining to watch him whoop everybody’s arse, though, especially Snape’s. While they watched Sirius give him a beatdown, Regulus found out that Snape bullied James as well when he was alive. It made Regulus wish he could go back and beat Snape with his own dick for hurting James.
Today was Sirius’s birthday. It should have been a joyful day, but Sirius still isn’t talking to anybody, and Regulus needs him to. As much as he wants to answer all of Sirius’s questions, he needs someone alive to confide in. Did Regulus find a way for Remus to find Sirius in the Astronomy Tower? Yes. Did he also find a way to hint that he would like some chocolate? Also yes. So when Sirius looked up towards Regulus’s star and asked ‘Really?', he only had one response.
“Yes, really,” Regulus whispered into his ear. “I found mine. It’s okay to have yours too. I don’t blame you, Siri.”
It helped, and now Regulus could relax a little bit. He knew Sirius still had a long way to go, but he was headed in the right direction with Remus’s help. James has been so patient with him, always being worried about his brother, and all Regulus could do was fall for him even more every day.
They may have only been twelve and fourteen when they died, but it didn’t stop them from growing up. Every day was a new experience, and they were enjoying every new day with each other. Sometimes, Regulus wondered if they would have found each other if they had lived long enough to meet, or if outside forces would have kept them apart. Probably the latter, especially knowing his mother. It’s better this way. He found a channel on the telly that showed him alternate timelines, and apparently, he would have died young either way, and his brother would have hated him. It was definitely better this way.
Regulus woke up in a cold sweat one morning after Christmas, and he didn’t know why. He was sleeping on James’s chest, and he didn’t remember having a dream or a nightmare. He sat up in bed, trying not to jostle James. It didn’t work.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“I don’t know,” Regulus replied quietly.
James looked at him with a concerned expression and then grabbed the remote for the telly. Regulus was confused now. Why would he turn on the telly now? He was flipping through the channels until he landed on one with Regulus’s parents talking to some guy who looked more like a snake than a human. They were trying to offer Sirius up to this creepy guy, so he could join his army. Regulus took the remote and flipped through the channels until he found Sirius sleeping safely at their uncle’s house. Once he knew that Sirius was safe, he relaxed a little and lay back down, curling himself into James’s side as he wrapped an arm around him. Sirius got out just in time.
It’s been a year since Regulus was killed by his own mother and six months since Sirius was able to get out of that house. Regulus still talked to him and tried to give him advice along the way when he thought he would really use it, or just told him things that would help him with his plan to take down their parents. Uncle Alphard was a smart man, making Sirius wait because he would have gotten himself killed by now, and it is not the time for him to join Regulus yet. No matter how much he wanted his brother with him.
Regulus checked in on Sirius to find him at his grave and taking every precaution so he doesn’t get caught by their parents. They have been looking for him. Where did he get an invisibility cloak?
“Jamie?” James looked up from the book that he was reading. “Do you know where Sirius would have gotten that cloak?” Regulus asked, pointing to the cloak on the telly.
“It looks like mine. Do you know if your uncle knows my parents?”
“You had an invisibility cloak?” Regulus questioned with a shocked expression.
“Yeah, well, I mean, it was my dad’s, but he gave it to me when I went off to Hogwarts. So I’m guessing they gave it back to him when I died, and I could see my dad letting your uncle use it if they were friends.”
“Oh. I don’t know if they knew each other. I haven’t been to my uncle’s since I was little.”
Regulus turned back to the telly as Sirius started talking, and he wanted to be near him. Apparently, James could sense that as well.
“Go. I’ll be right here.” Regulus was up and out of the door before he finished speaking. He always seemed to know when Regulus wanted to go to his brother.
“Are you happy, wherever you are?” Sirius asked quietly.
“I am. I’m very happy, Siri. He showed me how to be happy,” Regulus whispered in his ear, causing him to jump slightly.
“Who?” Regulus smiled when he asked. He could give him this little, okay, not so little, tidbit about how he has been doing in the last year.
“James.”
Sirius nodded and seemed to accept that. Not that he could do anything about it if he didn’t. They sat there in silence, just enjoying each other’s company, as well as anyone can enjoy the company of the dead. After Sirius left, Regulus went back home and just curled himself into James without a word, and James wrapped his arms around him.
Regulus could see his brother getting better as the days passed, and he was grateful to everybody who had helped him along the way. He had noticed that he still couldn’t talk about Regulus’s death to anybody who wasn’t Remus or Alphard. At least not until August, when Alphard suggested that McGonagall should know, so when it was time to put their plan into action, then she could help. Three people. That’s all Sirius had that he could absolutely trust. Regulus wished it were more, but he understood his hesitancy. He wouldn’t have trusted anybody either.
Sirius turned seventeen today, which meant that they could move forward with the plan. Regulus made a point to check in every day. This was definitely something he wanted to watch. James did too. They even made popcorn and everything. When it came time to actually arrest the bitch, both James and Regulus went to stand beside Sirius and watch the show. She actually tried running away. What the actual fuck?! Where did she think she was going to go? When they were escorted out of the house, Regulus was beaming.
“Well, that was satisfying to watch,” Regulus whispered into Sirius's ear.
“Yeah, yeah, it was,” Sirius breathed out.
James was standing behind Regulus with his arms wrapped around his waist. Regulus leaned back into the touch. How he wished his brother could see him, but being close will just have to do for now. Now they can all relax, and Sirius can try to live his life as much as possible anyway.
Regulus and James fell into an easy routine. They even went on dates. It didn’t matter that they were technically dead. They were living their best lives with each other, and that’s all that mattered at the moment. Regulus still checked in on Sirius, and he kept every letter that he wrote to him in his journal. Sirius would write in his journal, and the letters would show up on Regulus’s desk. If he could write back to him, he would, but they hadn’t figured out how to make that work yet. He was reading one of the letters when James walked into the room.
“What’s that look for?” James asked curiously. He never read the letters unless Regulus handed them to him.
“Apparently, that Pandora girl was a seer and saw my death beforehand. She told Sirius that I would be proud of him, which I am, but it makes me wonder what would have happened if I didn’t ignore her that day by the lake.”
“I don’t know, love. Is he going to keep talking to her?”
“Probably not.” Regulus put the letter away and walked over to James, who quickly pulled him into a hug and placed a gentle kiss on his hair. He loved James’s affection so much that he melted into it every single time.
It seemed like Sirius had been making a lot of progress since he got their parents arrested, and Regulus was happy for him. He deserved to be happy. He managed to actually keep his promise about giving Regulus a new resting place, granted the mausoleum was not where he wanted to be, but he was dead, so he didn’t really have a say in the matter. And he finally stopped his little dance with Remus, and they started dating. Sirius still hasn’t figured out Remus’s secret yet, though.
The next time Regulus checked in with Sirius, it was the end of the school term, and he was at the Ministry of Magic. James made popcorn, and they sat on the couch and cuddled while they watched his mother have a freak out about never being able to leave Azkaban again. Good. The bitch deserves to rot there. But the best part about watching his mother lose her mind was how Sirius decided to tell her that it was all because of him, and she knew she fucked up the day she killed him. Regulus was laughing so hard his side hurt when Sirius literally bowed in front of her as the ultimate Fuck You, and wishing her a fabulous time in Azkaban before walking away was the icing on the cake. Regulus really wished he could have been alive for that, but this was the next best thing.
So two years after Regulus died, Sirius could finally start to live the life he should have had from the beginning, and Regulus could enjoy his life with James. He knew that he would see Sirius again. He just hoped it wouldn’t be for a long time. Hopefully, he stays out of the war as he said, but knowing Sirius, he probably wouldn’t.
James and Regulus lived their lives as if they were still alive. He still checked in on Sirius ever now and again, just to see how he was doing. He seemed to be having a good life, all things considered. He and Remus got married a few years after they graduated, and James surprised Regulus with a ring as well. They declared themselves married after that. Who was going to stop them?
Regulus couldn’t be happier. When he was younger, he always wished for death, but he never imagined that his death could lead to feeling this alive. The years went by, and they watched people they knew die in a war that they never should have been in in the first place. Regulus was correct in assuming Sirius would fight even though he didn’t want to when he was younger.
Luckily, the war didn’t last that long. Only a couple of years. The creepy guy got taken out by a baby. Must not have been that powerful, if a baby was able to defeat him. Sadly, his parents ended up dying, though. At least he still had his grandma to take care of him. The wizarding world seemed quiet after that. That is, until 1992. It started slow, like the first war, but Regulus could see where it was headed, and he just hoped that Sirius could make it to the other side of this one as well.
~~~
18-6-1996
Sirius
“God, Bella is such a bitch!” Sirius scoffed angrily as he slammed the door shut, then he froze. This was not his house.
“Of course, Bella is a bitch. Are you telling me it took you this long to figure that out?” He heard from a doorway on his right. Sirius spun around towards the voice. He knew that voice. He missed that voice. Reggie.
“Reggie?” Sirius asked in disbelief. It had been so long.
“Hi, Siri,” Regulus said quietly.
Sirius didn’t wait for him to say anything else before he was scooping him up into a bone-crushing hug. He could hug his brother again. Sirius started crying, but refused to let him go. Regulus was crying too.
“How are you here?” Sirius asked, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he realised the stupidity of them.
“Well, you’re dead, Siri. How else do you think you would be here?” Regulus replied with a smirk. God, did he miss that smirk.
“How the fuck did I die? I was in a duel with Lucius of all people. There’s no way in hell that he killed me. I remember Bella saying something, though, but I can’t remember what.”
“Bella killed you with the killing curse when you were distracted.” Regulus shrugged as he went and sat down on the couch.
“That bitch," Sirius spat as he followed him and took a look around. It seemed like a quaint little cottage.
“Yes, we have established that one.”
“Wait! What about Remus? Did he survive?” Sirius asked frantically.
Instead of answering his question, Regulus turned on the telly, and Sirius could see that Remus was okay, well, physically anyway. Sirius took a deep breath and relaxed into the couch as someone handed him a mug of something warm. It took him a few minutes to realise that Regulus wasn’t alone.
“Potter?”
“It’s James, and if you have a problem with it, you can leave,” Regulus said harshly. Well damn.
“I’m sorry. James. I didn’t know you were talking about that James.”
“Did you know another one who went to Hogwarts in your year?”
“Well, no.”
“Okay then.” Regulus had his smile back on his face as he leaned back into James, and Sirius couldn’t help but smile with him. He missed seeing his brother smile. It had been a long twenty-one years without him. They seemed happy with each other.
Sirius and Regulus spent a long time talking after that. Sirius told him about how his life turned out with Remus and how their parents went insane and were still sitting in Azkaban for murdering him. That seemed to make Regulus smile. Regulus told him about his life with James, and Sirius was glad that he never had to be alone. It would have been nice to have had him by his side, but as long as Regulus was happy, then so was Sirius. After a while, Regulus showed Sirius where he could sleep, if he chose to stay with them. He was going to. There was no way he was going to leave his brother alone again.
Sirius enjoyed spending time with Regulus, and he found that he got on quite well with James as well. It was like they were platonic soulmates, and Sirius wondered what would have happened if he had allowed himself to be sorted into Gryffindor in their first year like the Hat had wanted. But it didn’t help to dwell on the what-ifs. They were all together now, and that was what mattered. As much as Sirius wanted Remus to join them, he hoped it would take him a long time to get here.
Sirius and Regulus fell into the sibling relationship that they should have had. They had small petty fights and big blowout fights where James had to separate them for a few hours, but they always made up by the end of the day. They loved each other, and that was something their parents could never fully take from them, even if they took the scenic route to figure it out.
Sirius would check in on Remus every once in a while. He was still fighting in the war even though neither of them really wanted to, either time, but they somehow got roped into it. He still doesn’t know how it happened. It just did. They had lost so many people to the first war that by the time the second one came around, they didn’t really care anymore.
It has been a fun two years with Regulus and James. Every day was a new adventure with them, and Sirius wished they had all grown up together, but he wouldn’t change this for the world. He even managed to convince Regulus to get a dog. He was very against it at first, but when Sirius teamed up with James, they broke him down. Of course, they had to get a cat as well. That was the only way Regulus would have allowed it. Even though he was the youngest, he was clearly the one in charge. It was a weird turn of events.
Sirius was lying on the couch, talking to Regulus about what they had planned for the day, when he shot up with a sudden pain in his chest. Regulus seemed to understand what it meant before Sirius did because he grabbed the remote to the telly and started flipping through the channels until he found Remus. He was in a duel with Antonin Dolohov, and he was losing.
~~~
2-5-1998
Remus
Remus was duelling Dolohov one second, and the next he was dead on his back. Well fuck. He could feel his soul trying to detach itself from his body, but where was it trying to go? Then he opened his eyes, and he saw him. Sirius was sitting in front of him, and he was crying,
“Hey, Baby,” Sirius said quietly. Remus could see the battle was still going on around them.
“Sirius?”
“Are you ready to go home?” he asked, and Remus didn’t know where home was, but if he was with Sirius, then he didn’t care, so he nodded.
Sirius grabbed his hand, and his soul detached itself from his body, and they were flying through the air. They landed outside of a small cottage, and Sirius dragged him inside before Remus could say anything. When he got inside, he realised that they weren’t alone.
“Reggie! James! We’re home!” Sirius called out as he shut the door behind them.
“Wait?! James?” He figured he would try to find his brother after he died, but James was a surprise. Was it the same James that they went to school with when they were eleven? Sirius just smirked at him and walked into the kitchen.
“No shit, Siri. You’re not exactly quiet.” That must be Regulus.
Remus followed Sirius into the kitchen, and sure enough, there was Regulus. Even though he hasn’t seen him since he was fifteen, it would be hard to mistake him for anybody else. And James, an older James, but still the same one from when he was eleven. He was very confused about how those two ended up together, considering James died before Regulus even went to Hogwarts, but he wasn’t going to question it right now.
“Hey, Remus. Long time no see,” James said jovially.
“Yeah,” Remus breathed out. He looked happy, like extremely happy, and Remus can now see how his fake happiness in school was a cry for help that he ignored.
“How about we take this into the living room?” Regulus asked as he grabbed James's hand and dragged him out of the kitchen. Yeah, Remus is thoroughly confused now, but he followed them anyway.
When he got to the living room, James was sitting on the couch with Regulus in his lap and his arms wrapped around his waist. Sirius pulled him to one of the armchairs. Remus sat down, and Sirius immediately plopped down in his lap. It felt good after not having it for two years. They started to tell Remus about everything. James told him that it wasn’t his fault for not talking to him before he took his own life. It wouldn’t have done anything. That was kind of reassuring but also not. He told him how he and Regulus ended up together. They were soulmates, apparently. Clearly, that was true. They told him about their lives until Sirius showed up, and then they told him about their lives with Sirius until he showed up, and now here they all were together.
They did not waste any time falling into a routine with the four of them living together. Eventually, Remus and Sirius got their own place down the street after Sirius kept complaining about having to listen to James’s and Regulus’s nighttime activities. They still practically spent all of their time together, and they were all generally happy to just live their lives, well, their deaths, however they pleased, without anybody else’s opinions interfering. Remus wouldn’t change it for anything else in the world. He came to love James and Regulus just as much as he loved Sirius.
And when it was time for them to choose a new lifetime, many years down the road, they made sure to pick one where they all ended up together again.