Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

The Black Heir (Regulus Black)

This was requested by grullasmigato who requested a Slytherin reader and Regulus becoming betrothed and well, there's a slight twist to the request too? I've never read or written for Regulus before and goodness, the man was an unsung hero so I hope I did his character justice. Make sure to leave me a comment to tell me what you think ~

Seventh years, the oldest of the students, found ourselves suddenly on the brink of adulthood. There was just a few months between us and the rest of our lives. Salazar, it was a scary time. Most of us had little to no idea about what to go on to do and suddenly having to make the choice wasn't something any of us were looking forward to.

"My parents are having a betrothal contract written up," Diana Pucey confessed across the dinner table. Her words were met by stunned silence. It wasn't odd to have a contract drawn up, in fact it was the norm amongst most of the 'elite' pureblood families, but Diana had sworn to never consent to one. Out of the five of us, she was the one we least expected to be bound to such a contract.

"What made you change your mind?" I asked with a frown, reaching for the roast potatoes. "I thought you were going to apply to the Ministry."

"I didn't change my mind," she sighed, "Father decided to go ahead and draw one up. Thankfully he hasn't found a groom to shackle me to, so I've got until he finds one to do whatever I want."

"Diana -"

"Don't bother pitying me," she narrowed her eyes at me before leaning across the table and speaking in a lower voice, "I could have ended up like the youngest Greengrass girl, shackled to a man twice her age with no affection for her. I'm going to fight any bad potential betrothals with everything I have. Personally, I'm grateful that my brothers took the time to teach me hexes to repel an unfavourable suitor."

"Merlin," Wendy Flint muttered, aghast, "if I thought any of my older brothers were good enough for you Di, I'd owl them straightaway."

Diana grimaced, "No thanks." Topping up her glass of juice, she looked between Wendy and me. "What about you girls then? What's the plan?"

"I'm going to get into work," Wendy said after a moment's thought. "Salazar knows where I'll end up working though."

Their eyes shifted to me and I shrugged under the weight of their stares. "Hell, if I know. I'm hoping to think of something by the time the holidays come round."

An owl flew overhead, dropping a letter in front of me as the focus of the conversation shifted. I watched the owl as it flew out of the great hall and recognised it as Mercury, my parent's owl. As I picked up the letter, I tuned out the girls as they questioned why the letter wasn't delivered in the morning, alongside the rest of the post. Breaking the seal on the back of the letter, I looked over the words scrawled across the parchment and felt the blood drain from my face. It had to be a joke.

But it wasn't. They wouldn't joke about something like this.

"What's the matter?" Wendy asked, leaning over my shoulder to read the letter.

She gasped, snatching it from me to read it over again. I didn't protest. Instead I looked a little further down the table to where the group of seventh year boys were sat, talking between themselves. Salazar's spirit.

"What?" Diana hissed when Wendy continued to let out surprised gasps. "Merlin Wendy, hurry up or I'm going to hex you."

Wendy spluttered, reading over the letter again, "She's, that's to say-"

"I'm betrothed," I whispered in shock, trying to wrap my head around this sudden development.

"You're joking." Diana leaned towards us again, lowering her voice as she hissed, "To who?"