Chapter Text
Eventually, Remus said to himself as he straightened his tie in front of the mirror, you had to count your blessings. He was free from his parents, he had money, and he felt sure that he was more than halfway to loving Sirius. Yes, he was very lucky from some perspectives. From others, he had been sold like an object, and forced to marry someone against his will. He decided not to think about that perspective.
He was grateful for this moment of peace, however brief. He had a feeling that it was the last for a long while and so he tilted his head back and soaked in the silence. I am Remus John Lupin. I will not forget my identity, no matter what, he told himself firmly.
There was a knock on the door. It was a decidedly Lily knock; soft and urgent at the same time, comforting, yet a reminder of places he was meant to be and people he was meant to be marrying in not very much time at all. He had asked her to walk him down the aisle, and she had been ecstatic, never ceasing to talk since he had requested it. James had warmed to him as well, anyone that could make his wife, his Lilyflower, so happy was a good person in his book. He had pulled Remus aside yesterday and told him in no uncertain terms that if he hurt Sirius in any way at all, he would not live to see another day. He was 100% sure no one had done that to Sirius. A wave of hopelessness overtook him, and he shut his eyes and steeled himself. It was far too late to back out – or run away – now. Lily had given up knocking and entered the room in a flurry of red.
“Oh Remus.” she took in his damp eyes and slightly clenched fists, and enveloped him in a warm, reassuring hug. He clung onto her and hid his face in her shoulder. The faint strains of an organ fluttered up the stairs and drew his mind to the hundreds, if not thousands of people waiting to see him walk down the aisle in what some popular magazines had labelled the “wedding of the century”.
Lily placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled softly at him before steering him in the direction of the music. Somehow, without using words, Lily had calmed him down and prepared him for what was to come. The noise of the crowd within the main room of the church was colossal, increasing until it was just a roar in Remus’s ears.
Without warning, the wedding march began to play and the roar reduced to a whisper here or there, it was time, time to sign away his rights, and become part of one of the oldest and most pretigious families in all of England, maybe in all of Europe, or further. No longer would be Remus John Lupin, instead he would take Sirius’s name, and officially leave his old life, and his parents, behind him. Maybe he wasn’t entirely ready, but would he ever truly be? He needed to take the leap.
And so, Remus took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other, over and over again until he reached the altar. His betrothed stood as tradition dictated, facing the priest, but James gave him a reassuring smile and he felt a little more confident.
When he reached the front, Sirius turned, and his jaw dropped. Remus self-consciously went to push his hair back, but Sirius caught his hand. “You look beautiful.” he murmured, and the ‘bride’ felt the resonance in his heart.
He couldn’t focus as the priest droned on, only hearing select words like ‘love’, and ‘cherish’, as the world around him spun. Abruptly, he was brought down to earth by Sirius's deep baritone as he said “I do”. Then the priest turned to him, and repeated the same words, with a few changes.
“Do you Remus John Lupin take thee Sirius Orion Black to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, to cherish and to obey, till death do you part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto pledge yourself to him?”
It seemed as if the whole world was waiting with bated breath, not a word uttered anywhere, for Remus’s answer. He closed his eyes.
“I do.”
The rest of the wedding passed in a blur. He remembered walking down the church steps, being congratulated and having confetti thrown on him. There was a vague recollection of cutting the cake, and the speeches, and the car ride to the airport. He only jerked back to real life when the private jet the Black’s had hired for their honeymoon took off, and he saw his fiancé – husband staring at him.
“Remus look, I know this wasn’t what you wanted for yourself, not in a million years, but I'm going to try my best to make you happy. I understand if you want nothing to do with me, and if that’s the case then I can engineer something, some scandal, that means you never have to be with me. But, Remus, I really want to make this – to make us – work.” Remus was shocked. This man, his spouse, had just borne his heart to him. If he was willing to sully his reputation for him, maybe he wasn’t all bad.
“I want to make it work as well.” he whispered the words, but the other man had obviously heard it, if the look on his face was any indication. He reached across the table and smiled, clasping Remus’s hand in his own.
“Then, Remus John Black, I look forward to the rest of my life with you.”
“And I with you.”
And then, on a plane hundreds of miles above the ocean, they kissed for the first time; a kiss that would be replicated for many years to come, and which would leave a lasting effect on both of those involved.