Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of it.

On November 11th, We remember those who served and serve. Thanks.

What's In A Name?

Regulus warm feelings towards his cousin lasted right up until they rejoined the others and Andromeda asked to meet Siam too, neatly sidestepping the question of what the hell she'd done to Noir by claiming that it was of utmost importance that she meet the other cat before explaining herself. The idea that she might somehow be able to cause Siam to grow too was annoying, for obvious reasons, but even more than that…it was the idea that she might know who his co protector was that rubbed Regulus the wrong way. Because it was his name that had changed him, so the only way she could cause a similar reaction in Siam was if she knew his name. Something he had yet to figure out himself.

A fact Regulus fumed over all the way to the classroom Allan was in, the boy bringing out his cat as requested for Andromeda's perusal. The look of shock on the redhead's face when he got a look at him was quite amusing, and Regulus wasn't surprised when the Gryffindor started pestering them with questions about how he'd come to grow so much.

'What happened to you?'

Regulus took a moment to bask in the annoyance of Siam's tone before answering, since Andromeda was still being circumvent with the other humans about what she did and didn't know.

'I got bigger, obviously.'

'How?'

'She recognized me. Said my name.'

'I see.'

"Allan, if you would let me see your cat, please."

To no one's surprise Allan hesitated for several heartbeats, all but clutching Siam to his chest, but then with a sigh he was handing the cat over, obviously aware that what Andromeda wanted, she normally got unless it involved the welfare of her family. Plus Allan had to know that Andromeda would never harm an animal in front of Teddy, given how animal mad the boy was.

Holding Siam up with both hands, Andromeda stared at him intently before walking over to a nearby bench, which she sat the cat down on. And then, not as gracefully as she would have once done, Andromeda knelt down, leaned over, and whispered something in the cat's ear.

Something that made Siam grow three times in size, just like Regulus had earlier.

Which meant, of course, that Andromeda had correctly guessed as to the cat's true name without even having to meet or speak to the snotty prat beforehand.

"Bloody hell, he grew, too." That was Teddy, while Allan wanted to know what was going on as he rushed over to get a better look at Siam's new size. Wisely Allan didn't try to pick him up either, since picking the cat up easily was out of the question now. Especially since Allan didn't have as much upper body strength as Teddy did.

Not that Teddy could carry him around easily now either, Regulus mentally pouted over, his days of riding around on the boy's shoulder now at an end. And realizing what he was thinking, Regulus hissed at himself for thinking such stupid thoughts.

'Mad I'm the same size as you again?' Siam called over before hopping off the bench to walk over to him while the others continued to pepper Andromeda with questions.

'No. I just wish we were bigger than this'. Which was true, even if it wasn't why he'd hissed.

'We can do more damage in this form, at least.'

'True.'

Both tuned in to the other conversation going on, with Andromeda telling them the lie that she'd come up with a little spell to make them better able, physically, to defend the boys. That no one was believing her was obvious, but a Black wasn't someone you questioned lightly, especially when they weren't in the mood to explain themselves. She did Regulus proud in that way, and he supposed he was even grateful that she had made Siam more capable of dying in Teddy's stead.

But he was still bitter that she'd figured out Siam's identity.

Allan's father was a Yank, of all things, and a Muggleborn on top of that. Red hair was most common in the Weasley and Prewetts families, blue eyes as well when it came to the former, but neither had any relation to Allan's mother's family. Allan' mother was a fourth generation witch, with no connection to any of the important families to the best of Regulus's knowledge. Or even one of the minor ones, for that matter.

'What is your name?'

'If you were as smart as your cousin, you'd have already figured it out.'

Merlin but he hated Siam sometimes.

'Well if I'm not as smart as her, than you're not as smart as either one of us, since you didn't figure out what the connection was between the victims before I did.'

Not his best comeback, but it hit the mark. He was fairly sure. It was hard to read a cat's face, much less Siam's.

)

A note passed to him during dinner from Allan had Teddy changing into casual clothes once he got back to his bedroom, and then with Noir walking beside him they left the Hufflepuff dormitory to meet his best friend and Siam outside the Room of Requirement. Or at least Teddy assumed that Siam would be there, since they were apparently supposed to take their cats with them everywhere now. Which was not going to be easy, Teddy sighed over, now that the two were so friggin big that Noir's head almost reached his knee when the cat sat on his bum. But his grandmother had given him 'The Look' when she'd told him to take Noir with him everywhere he went, so he was stuck. Privacy wasn't worth her wrath when she found out he hadn't listened. And she always found out. She had the power.

And there was the amusement factor of watching Noir adapt to the change in size. The poor guy kept forgetting that he was a lot bigger now, and Noir was not enjoying the stairs at the moment.

But short of levitating the cat there was no way he could help, and Teddy figured the lack of control if he were to use magic to help Noir would annoy his pet more than having to adjust his leaping skills.

Allan and Siam were indeed waiting for them outside The Room, doors already there to indicate that Allan had arranged for the room to serve a certain purpose for the evening. Something related to the attacks, no doubt. Or their cats, given their new appearances and his grandmother's refusal to explain herself.

"Hey."

"Hi. Thanks for coming."

"No problem. Though I can't stay much more than an hour unless it's really important I stay. I have an essay to work on that unfortunately won't write itself."

"No problem. Just stay as long as you can." Reaching over Allan pulled one of the doors open and motioned for Teddy to walk through ahead of them.

And doing so Teddy started looking around with interest as soon as he'd crossed the threshold, his eyes going wide as he tried to take it in all at once.

He'd spent plenty of time visiting his godfather at work, and he'd read Muggle books that involved police investigations, so he understood some of what Allan had done on the boards lined up around the room. The one featured a map of the school, marked with pins to show where the various victims had been discovered and the distance covered between the crime scene and the victim's dormitory. Another featured images and various pieces of information relating to each of the attacked, Allan looking for more connections beyond their names. One of the other boards was devoted to 'The Sacred Twenty Eight', with the lists of all the families and the potential future victims they'd come up with using the Pureblood Directory as a guideline.

The final list board had barely anything on it, Teddy moving in close to see that it included a listing of magical creatures who were humanoid enough that it would be possible for a witch or wizard to potentially reproduce with them.

"Christopher should have his list for us in the next couple of days. He's double checking with a werewolf he knows about a couple of scents that smell 'other' to him, but he can't place. Not surprising, really, and I told him I appreciated his thoroughness on the matter." Coming over to stand beside Teddy, Allan sighed in a way Teddy recognized as meaning his friend was as frustrated and sick of all this as he was. "We need to figure this out soon, before he or she escalates."

"You think whoever's doing this will start killing students?"

"Without knowing for sure the end game…but Gabrielle Goyle outsmarted whoever it is, and that will have consequences for the next victim."

Teddy couldn't argue with that. Someone who would do this…yeah, the cowardly psychopath was going to want to prove themselves with the next one, which was probably why another attack hadn't happened yet. And the waiting highlighted the fact that the bastard wasn't stupid, unfortunately, and was in control enough to realize that acting out without a solid plan would only lead to capture.

"And then there's our cats to figure out, as if we didn't already have enough on our plates." For emphasis Allan looked pointedly at each of their cats in turn, both of whom glanced at them before going back to studying the boards with a focus that made it quite clear that they not only understood what they were looking at, but had the intelligence to use that knowledge. Which was a little freaky in Teddy opinion.

Though really, what wasn't freaky about any of this?

"She didn't put a spell on them. I've checked Siam over as thoroughly as I can. Whatever caused them to grow, it's not the result of a temporary spell or pill she might have somehow slipped him on the sly. And if there's magic involved, which I can't see how there could be since all she did was say something to him, it's not any kind I've come across in all my studies."

"Which is saying something."

"No shit."

Eyebrows rising, you knew Allan was frustrated when he started swearing, Teddy slung an arm around his friend's thin shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Allan. You're doing your best."

"And my best isn't good enough."

"Hey. Shut up. There'll be none of that. You're the most brilliant student in this whole bloody school. I bet even Dumbledore couldn't figure this out with what we know."

"His portrait would have told us if he had." Allan agreed with a rueful smile.

"There ya go. Now let's go over anything and see if talking it over gives up a clue we missed, somehow."

"Okay. Yeah."

)

'The more time that passes, the more sure I'm becoming that there has to be some magic at work that keeps them from seeing Binoche for what he is.' Siam announced as they ignored the other two for the moment. 'The magic used is too advanced for a first year, and Binoche is the only older student to transfer in this year. He's the only true unknown here; for all that he presents himself as a weak, open book. And Allan isn't stupid; he KNOWS not to trust someone based on their appearance. That it's often the weakest that are the most dangerous simply because they've learned to survive by finding was to use the strong.'

As someone who had been constantly underestimated at first because of his smaller size and somewhat androgynous feature, Regulus could personally testify to that fact. Except for the weak part. He'd never been weak. He left that to the Blood traitors and lesser beings. But still, many feared the ones who were obviously dangerous, completely missing that often the most deadly creatures in nature were small and covert in their attacks.

'The fact that we can't communicate to anyone who we think it is…I'm guessing that's a part of the deal when it comes to our rebirth. Not him. But whatever it is he's using to cloud their brains, it is affecting even the portraits, since it goes without saying that there's at least one of them who would have figured this all out by now, as Allan said.'

Regulus wished for the millionth time that he was more capable of better showing distain. 'A member of the Albus Dumbledore fan club, are we? As someone who actually knew him before, I can tell you that he wasn't nearly as impressive in person.'

'And as someone who knew him far better than you, I'm quite happy to tell you that that statement shows you to be as stupid and ignorant as your one time allegiance to Riddle showed you to be.'

'How dare you insult me by..." Trailing off as his training kicked in, Regulus paused as he let his intellect, which was screaming for his attention, overshadow his ego as he really thought about what Siam had just said. And how he'd said it. Because as someone who'd made a study of people, to learn their secrets and tells for his advantage…Dumbledore mattered to Siam. Had been someone important to him on an emotional level. And that was despite the fact that Siam had to have done things dark enough to have been placed in his present situation.

A powerful, highly intelligent former wizard. One with a habit of occasionally cursing in German under his breath, which suggested that to be his native language. Dark tendencies. Knew Dumbledore well. Had been close.

'Grindelwald.' Regulus whispered, his voice a little louder the second time. 'Gellert Grindelwald.'

When Siam, no, Grindelwald just stared at him, slitted eyes daring him to challenge him, Regulus held the other wizard's gaze determinedly even as he mentally freaked out over the fact that of all the people Siam could have turned out to be, it would be Regulus's hero as a kid. He'd listened to recordings of the wizard's speeches, and had read the pamphlets and just about every book on the market about the wizard save for the ones that were too biased to be worth the parchment they were written on.

And while admittedly he hadn't agreed with the fact that the wizard had seen more value in magical creatures than he did, the fact remained that up until Regulus's death he'd greatly admired much of what Grindelwald had stood for and tried to accomplish.

Ugh. He felt a little nauseated now.

Looking away in the hopes of keeping the contents of his stomach where it belonged, Regulus found his gaze drawn in the direction of the other two voices in the room, his sights zeroing in on Allan.

Red hair. Blue eyes. Glasses. Scarecrow build.

'He's related to Dumbledore? No. He is….Dumbledore?' Regulus didn't know if that was exactly possible, but it made the most sense. No one in their right mind would have bred with Aberforth Dumbledore, and his former headmaster had been a homosexual. Not that men like them couldn't chose to have children with women, but Regulus thought it fairly safe to say that the likelihood of Dumbledore forcing himself to bed a woman out of wedlock was about as likely as the entire Muggle World learning how to get along with each other.

The silence that had greeted his question was long enough that Regulus thought the other wizard was going to ignore him.

'I don't know how it's possible. I just knew it was truly him the moment I laid eyes on him. And he was the only person from my previous life I would die for, and the powers that be would know that.'

'He imprisoned you.'

'He captured me alive.' Was the other cat's cold reply. 'And he gave me the opportunity to repent before death.'

'You weren't wrong, with your thinking.' Regulus blurted out before he could stop himself.

A hint of a feline smile. 'No. But I was wrong thinking that my actions could change things. That it was worth losing other things for.'

Losing Dumbledore, Regulus's mind tacked on, though the idea of his childhood hero and Dumbledore as a couple was horrifying to him.

'So far my attempts to make him realize who I am have failed.' Siam continued, ignoring Regulus's reactions for the moment. 'I think on some level he knows, both who he is and who I am, but he's refusing to face it. Stubbornness to the point of stupidity has always run in that family, unfortunately, and…there are things he understandably doesn't want to remember.'

'Were the two of you a couple, originally?' Regulus couldn't help but be curious, having never had the opportunity to really converse with someone who was willing to admit that he was a homosexual. Well there was Dumbledore, when he'd been a student, but of course he had never trusted the man with such an obvious weapon against him.

Not that he hadn't known others among his peers who indulged with their own sex, Regulus mentally sneered over, but call any of them a homosexual and they would have denied it vehemently, claiming that their actions were simply experimentation or stress relievers. Most, if not all of them, would have gone on to marry women to prove that fact.

'The specifics of our previous relations are none of your business. What's important is that we find some way to make him acknowledge who I am. If your cousin saying my name made me this big, imagine what having him recognize me will do.'

'You think that being bigger will outweigh the distrust he'll feel, knowing that you're actually the man considered the second darkest wizard of the twentieth century?'

'If you want to live, you will never compare me to Voldemort.'

Normally Regulus would have had a scathing response to that, but this was Gellert Grindelwald in front of him. Better not to provoke him. If he wanted to take this man on, it would be better to plan it all ahead of time.

Ergo, time to change to subject. 'Andromeda was of the opinion that it would be for the best if Teddy didn't know who I was. She thought it would undermine my ability to keep him safe. I agree. But if you want to clue Wimbledon as to your identity, I'll try to think of some way to help you with that.'

'She wasn't wrong. And I see her point. Do you believe your Teddy remembers his previous life?'

'What makes you think he has a previous life to remember?' Regulus countered, having not previously considered the possibility.

The look Grindelwald gave him made it clear he thought Regulus was an idiot.

'You haven't figured it out yet?'

'Figured out what?'

'The reason you're able to be here to protect him.'