Chapter Text
James was impatient in his father’s office, tasked with finding an important contract. He had already rummaged through dozens of scrolls, muttering irritably that a house-elf could have done it in seconds. The drawer stretched on for meters; the tall, endless shelves made the room feel more like an ancestral library than an office.
With a flicker of hope in his eyes, he raised his wand.
“Accio contract for the purchase of the island!”
Nothing happened.
The shelves trembled, as if laughing at his attempt.
“You’ll have to look the old-fashioned way!”
James grimaced, rolling his eyes. Brilliant. Even the furniture was mocking him.
He pushed deeper into the row of files. Hours later, exhausted and with his patience hanging by a thread, he tugged at one last scroll wedged between others. The result was immediate: several rolls tumbled down on top of him.
“Perfect,” he muttered, brushing his hair out of his face.
He stood and began gathering the contracts. One caught his attention: an old marital agreement involving a Potter ancestor. He was returning them to the shelf one by one when he noticed a scroll sealed with an ancient crest.
Curious, he broke the seal.
His gaze traveled over the first lines, reading carefully.
It was a marriage contract, still unconsummated, between the Potter family and the Prince family.
James slowly sat down.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Prince was the surname of Snape’s maternal family.
A smile curved his lips.
He raised an eyebrow, reading the clauses more closely. It was one of those old contracts, now forbidden by the Ministry of Magic for being far too restrictive toward the spouse with lesser financial power.
He thought of Severus.
It had been almost a year since the end of school. Severus worked at a diner, serving customers to pay for his Master’s in Potions. Monday through Friday. Always at the same time.
James went in only to provoke him, mentioning his engagement to Lily. Waiting for a reaction. Hoping to see the old contempt, the insults.
But Severus no longer reacted.
He served him like any other customer.
Indifferent.
Sometimes James stayed outside, watching without being seen. Other times, he discreetly followed him to the tiny room he rented a depressing, horrible cubicle.
James had always prided himself on not being a spoiled rich boy.
But that?
That was miserable.
He couldn’t understand how Severus endured it.
James knew Severus’s entire routine. He knew what time he woke up, when he left, when he returned. He knew that sometimes he met former classmates.
His fingers tightened around the parchment.
One drop of his blood… and Snape would be his.
He wouldn’t be able to reject him.
James thought of Lily. The wedding was only days away. After that, their magic would be bound forever.
Severus would become nothing more than a memory.
His finger slowly traced the name Prince.
Severus didn’t use that surname, would it even work?
As far as he remembered, the Princes were only Snape’s maternal grandparents. There was no one else. If there were any closer relatives…
Tomorrow James could wake up married to a stranger.
With no possibility of dissolution.
With eternal marital obligations.
Never able to touch another person again.
His heart began to pound faster.
He bit his own finger hard enough to break the skin. The metallic taste of blood spread through his mouth.
He looked at the red drop.
There was only Severus.
He was the last living Prince.
Breathing fast, he pressed his bloodied finger against the signature line.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the blood glowed, being absorbed into the parchment.
Where there had once been only empty lines, his name appeared.
On the opposite line, letters began forming on their own.
Severus Snape.
James’s smile slowly spread.
His heart racing.
Severus Snape was his now.
Forever.
The contract vanished from his hand.
James blinked, but he wasn’t startled. It was probably at the Ministry of Magic now, registering the bond he had just activated.
A shiver ran down his spine.
He imagined Severus receiving the letter the next morning.
He imagined the look on his face.
The anger.
The shock.
James’s smile widened. Resting a hand against his chin, he began thinking about something very important.
He needed a house.
No, not a house. He needed a mansion.
He already owned one, of course. Small, pleasant, in a respectable neighborhood chosen by Lily. A simple place among Muggles.
Perfect for a normal marriage.
But his marriage to Severus would not be ordinary.
With Severus, it was different.
James wanted space. He wanted silence. He wanted absolute isolation. A mansion far from everything, where no one could interfere. Where no neighbor would dare show up.
He smiled as he remembered one of the Potter family estates: the property was isolated, old, imposing. Severus would be amazed at everything he could offer him.
Severus would do very well.
Tomorrow he would wake up married to a noble pure-blood heir.
He would sleep in silk sheets, in a soft bed, in a spacious room with tall windows. Beside a handsome husband. Intelligent. Wealthy.
James tilted his head.
Severus probably wouldn’t even realize how lucky he was.
He returned to the sitting room with an easy stride.
“I didn’t find the contract,” he told his father, flashing a broad smile.
He sat down on the sofa. His heart still racing. His body buzzing with energy he was euphoric.
He felt like apparating immediately to the miserable neighborhood where Severus lived. He wanted to see his face. He wanted to witness the exact moment he understood.
But no.
It would be better to pretend surprise.
There was still the wedding to Lily.
He needed to end it.
Should he call it off the same day? Or wait for Severus’s inevitable outburst?
Because there would be an outburst.
Snape would do everything to annul that marriage.
And that idea…
That idea made the smile return.
From now on, Severus was his.
His.
He would have to pretend to be devastated over the end of his engagement to Lily. Pretend outrage over the unexpected marriage. Pretend indignation.
But in the end, when all the performance was over…
Severus would be his.
Forever.
“You’re very happy,” Fleamont remarked, watching him curiously. “Excited about your wedding to young Lily?”
James let out a small laugh.
“You have no idea, Father. I’m going to marry the love of my life.”
Fleamont smiled with satisfaction.
“That’s wonderful, James. The best thing in a man’s life is marrying the love of our life. Look at your mother and me. More than twenty-five years together, and we’re still happy.”
James closed his eyes for a moment.
The smile refused to fade.
But it wasn’t Lily he saw.
It was Severus.
He thought about finally being able to kiss him.
To have him in his bed every night.
To wake up and find him there, beside him.
Every single day.
Until the last second of his life.
The thought made him feel even lighter.
That night, James couldn’t sleep.
He spent the entire night wide awake, staring at the ceiling, every second dragging like torture. He turned over in bed, got up, paced the room, lay down again. It felt as though dawn simply didn’t want to come.
At exactly six thirty, it happened.
A sudden tug in the center of his chest.
It wasn’t ordinary pain, it was as if something inside him had been hooked and pulled.
He gasped.
The sensation slowly traveled down his left arm, hot and creeping. James hastily yanked up the sleeve of his pajamas.
A thin red line, as fine as a thread of blood, ran beneath his skin. It slid from his shoulder to his forearm, curling around his wrist… winding itself around his ring finger.
The line closed there, forming a delicate, ornamental design.
It was the mark.
A magical ring.
For a second, he was completely still.
Then he smiled.
Severus was feeling it too.
The same pull in the chest.
The same line burning beneath the skin.
James slowly licked his lips, imagining it.
Snape waking up startled. Perhaps sitting upright in the narrow bed of that miserable room. Looking down at his own arm in confusion. Trying to understand what was happening.
Perhaps afraid. Or furious.
James smiled at the thought.
“Cute,” he murmured to himself.
He practically ran down the stairs.
The Ministry was already open. The letter would arrive at any moment. He could barely breathe from anticipation.
He tousled his hair in the hallway mirror. He was electric. He looked like he was about to explode.
Fleamont and Euphemia came down shortly after, exchanging a surprised glance when they saw him awake so early.
“Up already?” Euphemia remarked fondly. “Nervous about the wedding?”
James only smiled, unable to control the gleam in his eyes.
He kept staring at the window. The pale sky. The silence before the owls arrived.
Any minute now.
Then the beating of wings cut through the air.
The owl landed on the table and dropped the letters with a soft thud.
James restrained his smile with all his strength.
Fleamont gathered the correspondence, adjusting his glasses, reading each one calmly.
James’s heart was pounding so loudly he was certain the sound echoed through the room.
Then he saw it.
His father’s expression changed.
His brows furrowed. His mouth tightened.
“James…” he began slowly.
His gaze lifted, heavy.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but it appears that you are… well… legally married to Severus Snape. The Ministry of Magic informs us that the bond was activated through a blood contract. And…” he swallowed hard, “the two of you must begin conjugal life immediately. Otherwise, the magical penalties will be severe.”
Silence.
James widened his eyes, feigning outrage.
“What, Father? What are you talking about? That’s impossible!”
Euphemia brought her hands to her mouth.
“Fleamont! What nonsense is this? James is going to marry Lily!”
Fleamont shook his head, tense.
“No, Euphemia. That is no longer possible. We can try to appeal… but I doubt there’s a solution. These ancient contracts are practically unbreakable once activated with blood.”
He looked at his son with a mixture of suspicion and concern.
“James… do you have something to tell me?”
James shook his head, pretending indignation.
He thought of Severus, who must now be feeling the same weight of the word that had been echoing in James’s mind since the night before:
Husband.