alwaysimpure | Wedding March

"The point being you had no right to interfere, Sirius Black." Andromeda was glaring across at her 'cousin, fingers tightening around the handle of her teacup for a moment.

"I thought you liked Ted."

"Sure, I like him, he's a great bloke. It's not my fault you two have commitment phobia." Sirius shrugged, leaning out of reach in case the teacup would get thrown.

"You know how it goes, he'll come crawling in a day or two. But he reads the Prophet. Regulus. He's sixteen now. Old enough to..."

He trailed off, rubbing his lower arm.

"...Are you telling me you broke us up because your brother is old enough to...

Sirius, what were you thinking?!"

Regulus could not have chosen a better moment to join their happy little family reunion.

He apparated right into the living room, no attention paid to polite forewarnings, privacy... or the very familiar tunes of someone yelling abuse at Sirius.

"Andromeda Black!" he shouted, furiously waving a Daily Prophet around as soon as the moment of disorientation had passed. He sounded a lot like his mother in this moment. "How could you betray your family like this?!"

Sirius jumped up as soon as he heard the sound of apparating, wand out and pointed before he even thought about it. War-times and Sirius was - already - used to fighting.

However, upon recognizing Regulus and the absence of a wand in his hand, just the newspaper, he lowered his own and stepped back, closer to Andromeda than his brother, though not quite close enough for her to hit him without moving first.

"Manners, Regulus."

Andromeda had moved as well, the crack of apparition drawing her to her feet, fingers curled around her wand before she exhaled a sigh at seeing her cousin.

"And what business is it of yours, Regulus? I've already been disowned or have you forgotten?"

Regulus' eyes flickered to his brother and for a moment uncertainty showed on his face. He withdrew slightly, he hadn't counted on being outnumbered.

Then Andromeda spoke. His hold on the newspaper tightened with renewed anger. "I don't need a lecture on manners from you, Sirius... or from you, Andromeda." He threw the newspaper onto the table. "I can't believe you married the mudblood, do you have no pride?"

"She didn't actually marry him yet, can't you wanker read?" Sirius' outrage at that was really more due to the work he had put on getting this into the prophet than due to Regulus insulting Andromeda. "Shouldn't you know what engaged means?"

He huffed and narrowed his eyes. "You do realize that in this place, mudblood isn't an insult. Don't use it like one, unless you want some of your noble blood on the floor."

"Sirius is right, I haven't married anyone yet. I wasn't even aware of the article until about an hour ago, Regulus." Andromeda's voice was even, her gaze hardening a little along with her voice.

"Although whoever I choose to marry, I assure you, I'm not the one dishonoring our family name, just because I refused to toe the line like our mums wanted. I choose my own path."

Edited 2013-04-27 00:01 (UTC)

"Mudblood will always be an insult, there is no cleaning the filth even if you prefer to wallow in it," Regulus sniped back with nary a thought given to it. Quarrels on blood purity with his traitor relatives had long since become a knee-jerk reaction.

The realization that Andromeda wasn't married, though, that made him feel ever so slightly light-headed with relief. He snorted bitterly. "You and your precious own paths... You don't care what damage you cause to the family! That a centuries-old line will end because of your selfishness and everything generations of Blacks have worked for will have been for naught."

Sirius jerked forward, ready to punch Regulus, but he managed to find some composure and hold himself back at the last moment. This was important, this was what he'd wanted. Driving Regulus away now would make all his efforts futile.

"What's the path you're taking then, Regulus? Tell me how to preserve a centuries-old line filled with hatred and bigotry."

"I'm sorry, how is my choice going to end the line, Regulus?! You and Sirius are the direct heirs, we were all the spares or have you completely forgotten who's set to inherit. Bellatrix and Narcissa aren't Blacks anymore and even I had made the pureblood marriage my parents wanted right out of school, I'd still no longer be a Black.

So tell me, how exactly am I ruining the future of the entire Black line?!"

He glared first at Sirius, then at Andromeda, finally settling awkwardly on glaring at both of them as well as he could. Regulus shifted his weight uneasily, though he caught himself after a moment and straighted his spine. "I'm going to fight for the preservation of our way of life, I will make sure that future generations of pureblood children will be able to live in a world where our values are honored and purity is still treasured," he exclaimed. "And maybe," he added scornfully towards Andromeda, "there would still be proper Blacks alive to enjoy this world if you weren't set on wasting your lineage on birthing half-breeds! But you have to walk your own path."

Ah, that was more like it. Sirius hid a smile behind his hand watching Regulus with interest and choosing to ignore most of the nonsense he was spewing. It wasn't as if they hadn't both grown up hearing this every day. It wasn't as if he hadn't had it shouted at him or as if some of the words hadn't been carved into his skin at some point.

"Whose children would you rather she have, Regulus?"

"We can prserve our way of life without insulting others with equal or greater powers than we have. Whoever they're born to, they still have magic and deserve the same education we all get.

I may be a pureblood, but I don't see how that makes me better than anyone else. People should be judged on their own merit, not the fact of who their parents are. You do know that even pureblood families can produce non-magical-

What did you just ask him?" And she turned to face Sirius.

"Don't reason with him, Andy, it's pointless. I grew up with a few of the sort." Sirius glanced at her and did his best to seem utterly oblivious to any deeper implication. "Erm. Just curious."

"Don't listen to Sirius, I don't want you to have anyone's children!" Regulus snapped. He averted his eyes. "I'm merely concerned with the... purity..." But he was sounding like a broken record and he knew it.

He shot his brother a resentful look. "Andromeda ought to show some pride. And so ought you, Sirius. I'm merely concerned with the future of the family... and I seem to be the only one!" He shook his head bitterly. "You have made us the laughing stock of pureblood society."

Edited 2013-04-27 00:40 (UTC)

"Purity, right." Sirius turned around on his heels until he faced Andromeda, although it cost him just a bit to turn his back to Regulus for even a moment. That realization hurt and his face showed as much for a few moments, but luckily only Andromeda could see it.

He took a deep breath and a moment later he gave a nod, smiling at his cousin. "Future of the family, Andy."

With those ever so meaningful words, he went down on one knee and reached for her hand, doing his best to make this look real.

"I'd be ever so honoured if you accepted me."

Andromeda stared at him for a long moment, her expression closing off before she turned and left the room, her heels clicking against the floor as a door slammed behind her.

Regulus was just as dumbfounded as Andromeda had been, he gaped at the door for a moment after it had closed.

"I hope you are proud of yourself, Sirius," he growled as he jostled roughly past his brother. He opened the door to lean into the hallway and yell, "Andromeda, please come back! I'm not done talking to you yet!" He shot a glare over his shoulder. "I will kick Sirius out for you!"

Ah, well. Bit roundabout, but Sirius would still count it as a win. He got up and sat back down on the table, continuing to slowly sip the tea he had abandoned there, after heating it back up with a flick of his wand.

"Now that I'd like to see."

Regulus whirled around to glower at his brother, eyes narrowed to angry slits. "Keep your dirty hands off Andromeda," he hissed, "you made your choice. You aren't the heir anymore."

He didn't wait for a reply before he stalked away, all angry wet cat, in search of Andromeda. "Andy? Where are you? I'm sorry Sirius was a git, you know him."

"...I don't know that I want to talk to you either. Neither of you have any kind of respect for anyone who doesn't fall in with your ideas." Andromeda wasn't going to cry, not in front of her idiotic cousins.

"I'm quite capable of making my own choices and you're both treating me like I don't have a single brain in my head."

"Andy I don't..." He trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Blood traitor she may be, but she was still his cousin. The nice cousin, even, the one he used to like best before she started spouting all that rubbish about equality.

"Of course you can make your own choices," Regulus sighed, "that's why it's so vexing that you make the wrong ones! I don't see what is so horrible about not wanting to lose you." He approached her slowly, just as slowly reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Wrong choice or not, it's my choice and I'm the one who has to live with the consequences, not either of you. Ted was perfectly nice, whatever his blood status." Andromeda exhaled a slow breath, eyes closing for a moment at the contact.

"He was a good man. That should matter more than whether he has a lineage stretching back centuries or not. At least he's not a mindless sycophant toadying up to others because they have power."

He withdrew his hand and took half a step back. "It's nice to know what you truly think of me, cousin," Regulus sneered, yet he couldn't quite keep the hurt out of his voice. "Maybe I wouldn't have to toady up to anyone if you, Sirius and Alphonse hadn't brought shame on our family! We used to be the royalty of pureblood nobility. Nowadays we are known for our blood traitors!"

"I wasn't referencing you, Reg. I meant..." Andromeda shoved hands through her hair, before just shaking her head. "You're better than any of them, you know that. Most of them don't even seem to have any inkling of what good really is."

"Great load of good that does us," he muttered bitterly. "Did you know I can't even find a wife? The few families who are pure enough for us don't want to waste their daughters on breeding more mudblood lovers. We are a joke to polite society." And it's all your fault, his tone implied.

Edited 2013-04-27 20:54 (UTC)

"...You're not even out of school yet." She pointed out, lifting her head for a moment before she rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Look, Reg, I didn't do this to hurt you, to ruin whatever chances you have, or anything of the sort. I just can't live under those expectations anymore. I wanted a relationship with someone I could actually respect...

And most of the pureblooded men are not the type I'd give a kitten to."

"So you are going to marry that mudblood," he murmured. "I hope you are going to be happy living in filth and poverty with him. I hope he is worth turning your back on your family and your duties to them." It was childish and petty, but, well, it was so entirely unfair.

He had had it all mapped out in his mind, how he would bring Andromeda home and solve their greatest problem all in one fell swoop and well, he had even pictured them being happy in this future. Then there had been the Daily Prophet...

"I'm no fool," he added. "You aren't married yet but you will be soon enough. Ted Tonks would be a fool not to marry you." Yes, Regulus actually knew the man's name, even if he commonly pretended that people like him were beneath his notice.

"Not likely. He broke up with me." The words were quiet, Andromeda glancing past him towards the door before she shook her head. "I don't know who I'm going to marry yet, Reg. We've had a few dates, but I'm not in any hurry to bind myself for life."

"Oh."

Regulus remained quiet, stunned, for the longest time. He stepped closer towards Andromeda again and placed his hand on her upper arm in an awkward attempt to comfort her. "You..." No, no telling her that she has no one but herself to blame. "I'm sorry." And then, because foot-in-mouth syndrome is such a problem for the Black men, he couldn't help blurting out, "you should have married me!"

She appreciated the sympathy, she did but the last bit just made her freeze, lifting her head slowly to look up at her younger cousin.

"...I'm sorry, did you just say I should have married you? You're not even of age yet, Regulus?" Which was probably the least problematic part of that statement but she's still processing.

Regulus tried to smile, but it wavered within moments. "I..." He bit down on his bottom lip, a little bit nervous and well, quite a lot lost. "But I'm going to grow older," he protested weakly. "And with Sirius gone I'm the heir."

Well, maybe he should have thought this through better, actually come up with a plan. But he hadn't expected to have a second chance. He had just come here to rant and rave at Andromeda.

"...And you think that we should marry because you're the heir?" Andromeda glances up at him again before she rubs a hand over her eyes.

Life would be so much easier if her cousins were girls, honestly.

"Well... Yes. I'm going to need a wife, you need a husband and we are both of respectable blood." He paused, frowning at himself.

"What I mean to say is, I care for you, Andromeda. I would like to see you happy." So what if he didn't trust anyone else to get it right...

"You'd like to see me happy inasmuch as it meets the standards of what our family considers appropriate, you mean." Andromeda tilted her head slightly.

"You know I'm never going to be a proper Black, Regulus. I don't think like they do and I certainly don't share their beliefs."

"I wouldn't care!" he blurted out, then immediately wilted for Andromeda knew him far too well to believe that. "I won't care enough that it would hold me back. You are entitled to your own opinions."

He just hoped she wouldn't voice them all too loudly, but Regulus wasn't quite young and foolish enough to say that out loud.

He squeezed Andromeda's hand. "I would treat you well. I would honor you."

"And expect me to keep my mouth shut when people say things I disagree with so I don't come off like a blood traitor?" Andromeda lifted her head, gaze locking on Regulus' face.

"I'm not going to be what they want, Reg. You should decide what kind of man you want to be before you even consider asking me something like this.

His shoulders slumped as he had to admit, for now, defeat. "You're right," he whispered, "I shouldn't have asked you today. I acted like a child instead of like the man I ought to be. But you could help me figure out who I want to be."

He shook his head, walking away from Andromeda. "It isn't easy with... everything... I'm not like you and Sirius."

"You know we'll be here for you." She followed, settling a hand on his shoulder.

"Just forget what everyone expects of you. What do you want, Reg? Not what's 'best for the family' but what's best for you."

He peered at Andromeda's hand on his shoulder, it felt nice being touched by her. Comforting. Too bad he had no proper answer to give. "I've never permitted myself to think about it all that much," he admitted quietly.

"To be someone my family can be proud of, I suppose. But you are family... and so is my mother and I can never make both of you proud."

Andromeda was quiet for a moment before she let her hand drop back to her side. "You're right that your mother and I will never see eye to eye. The reason I left home, why I walked away was because I'm not like my sisters.

I judge people on who they are, not their bloodline."

He watched her for a while, simply regarding her quietly as he tried to figure out how he saw her. "I'm willing to judge you on who you are, Andromeda, not just on whom you associate with like my mother would."

He sighs. "We will never see eye to eye on some matters. But I believe we could find middle ground."

Wedding March

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