After Hogwarts. (Apollo LeFay Book 2)

Chapter 2.

"Can you imagine Father dancing and singing?" Regulus asked wrinkling his nose.

"Not really." Sirius thought it over but he couldn't imagine his cold-hearted father dancing and singing to someone so lovingly.

"Well let's see what happened," James said and pulled out a vial labelled 24th of October 1952.

It was a stormy night and Apollo was wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a book.

He turned the page but then there was a frantic knocking on the door. He frowned and put down his drink, grabbing his wand instead.

He pulled the door open. "Orion, what on Earth are you doing out there? You'll catch your death."

He pulled him inside. "You're soaking."

"I know but Apollo that's not important." Orion looked distraught and Apollo frowned and led him to the couch.

"What's wrong, love?"

"It's my family."

Apollo's face darkened at the mention of Orion's family. "What did they do this time? I'll curse them."

"No just listen. Do you remember in sixth year when Mother says if I'm not in a serious relationship by the time I'm nineteen I would have to marry Walburga?"

"Well yes but you're 23 now. And very much taken."

"They said that they let me loose for long enough and that I needed to be reined in."

"Reined in?! You aren't a dog."

"They said that being with a boy would never produce heirs so unless you were secretly hiding a pair of ovaries I had to leave you. They are arranging a marriage with Walburga as we speak."

"No." Apollo put a mouth over his mouth. "No, they can't do that."

"They can and they have. They threatened to strike mine and my two brothers' names off the tapestry and cut the three of us off if I don't. I can't do that to them."

"But there's gotta be a way around it."

"I don't wanna marry her Apollo," Orion said his voice breaking a bit. "I want to marry you."

"I do too." Apollo grasped Orion's hand tightly. "We'll find a way around it. We will."

Orion threw himself into Apollo's arms and Apollo held him close kissing his hair softly and whispering reassurances in his ear.

"A forced marriage," Sirius muttered. "That explains a lot."

"James, are you crying?" Remus asked.

"No, it's just the air. It's making my eyes water." James said wiping his eyes stubbornly.

"So Father was forced to marry Mother. Maybe he kept up his relationship with Apollo behind closed doors." Regulus suggested.

"Only one way to find out," Sirius said and picked up another vial.

"Marry your cousin!?" Tom said aghast.

"But you're already in a relationship. Wasn't that the terms of the marriage?" Abraxas said shaking his head.

"Since two men can't produce an heir they said that I had to marry Walburga," Orion said with his head in his hands. Apollo wrapped an arm around him caringly.