Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and all the situations said characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Photograph

Staring at the yearbook in front of him Teddy shook his head wearily, wishing that every piece of information he gathered about Teddy Prince didn't leave him with more questions than answers. He'd spent the last couple of hours talking to the Hogwarts ghosts, as well as a few teachers who'd been around in Regulus and Prince's day, and things hadn't gone nearly as well as he'd hoped. Like his prior sources he'd gotten the familiar picture of his ancestor as a dark, arrogant loner, and Prince as being a nice, easygoing people person who had shattered the Slytherin mold as much as Regulus had fit it. The fact that two of the ghosts and one of the teachers had actually told him that he and Prince had a lot in common personality wise would have been flattering if not for the dreams and the too many eerie coincidences when it came to him and the teenager he kept dreaming he was.

And now he knew that they even looked a little alike, or at least like his actual face and form if he didn't tweak it and stuck with what he'd been born with. Not that he changed much, but Teddy would be the first to admit that he did like to mix it up when it came to his hair and eye color. And okay, maybe he helped his height along a little…and he'd given himself a more impressive chest when he was a teenager…but he'd started working out so that was all real now, thank you very much.

Glaring down at the picture he'd been looking at Teddy deliberately closed the book harder than was necessary, wishing that it was so easy to end his interest in the relationship between Regulus and Prince. If there had even been one besides a shared house and the fact that Regulus had been one of Prince's prefects. So far he hadn't found anything to suggest there hadn't been anything else between the two, which depressed him horribly because seriously, the Prince bloke had deserved better, but it wasn't like the bloke's ghost was hovering around so that he could apologize for his kin's past behavior and disinterest.

To top it all off, like the rest wasn't enough, there was one main thing that he didn't get, or to be more accurate one thing that bugged Teddy about the whole mess, and that was the fact that he couldn't believe that Regulus Black had been unaware of how Prince had felt about him. That just didn't fit with the teenager's personality or the way people remembered Regulus. Sure no one else had seen it, but there had been a war approaching and teenagers were notoriously self absorbed and off in their own little worlds at the best of times, much less when their world was going to hell in a hand basket. But Regulus…he couldn't see Regulus being blind, especially when the crush was so obvious to him when the two were alone together. Or it just seemed brutally obvious to him, maybe it hadn't been back then and he was simply projecting his own ideas onto the story. Maybe Regulus hadn't seen it and that was why Prince had lived long enough to leave England and live a decade and a half longer than his crush before dying relatively young as well.

Still…his gut said Regulus should have known and factoring in the possibility that his Slytherin ancestor had known that Prince fancied him…why had all the dreams suggested that Regulus hadn't minded being around or even touching Prince? Homosexuality back then…it had been a serious taboo and the Black family unquestionably old school when it came to that sort of thing. His grandmother loved him to bits, and even then it had taken her years to become completely at ease about his bisexuality. So yeah, even if Prince had never made a move, he would have thought having some bloke salivating over him would have been enough of a pisser for his Black ancestor that the teenage Slytherin would have lashed out and made it clear in no uncertain terms that Prince would be in for a world of hurt if he didn't wise up and leave him the hell alone.

Instead…nothing. Except the bloody portrait. Dammit.

"Teddy?"

Looking over Teddy automatically smiled at the current Muggles Studies professor. They hadn't been students together because Wren had graduated from Hogwarts just before he'd arrived as a first year, and then Wren hadn't come back as a professor until he'd graduated which was why their acquaintance was mostly due to his godbrother. James seriously fancied the man, though how Wren felt about James was very open to interpretation.

"Hello, Wren. What are you doing here?" It was still a few more weeks until summer was over and school started again, but Wren had a place in Hogsmeade so the walk here wasn't a long one.

"Returning a few books." Cocking his head slightly to the side, his long white braid sliding down his shoulder, Wren read the dates listed on the covers of the books in front of Teddy. "Your father would have graduated by that time, and your mother not yet old enough to attend."

"Looking into an ancestor of mine, actually. I have a puzzle involving him that I'm trying to solve."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Mind if I bounce a question off you?" Wren was a Ravenclaw, and he'd always found the man to be very good when it came to figuring people out. When he got a nod Teddy struggled with how to phrase his question. "I'm trying to figure out-if you knew someone was attracted to you, and you had nothing to gain from blackmailing that person with that knowledge since he's basically penniless and too noble to be corrupted or forced into doing terrible things-no, you've met enough Blacks and their relatives to get a feel for them." Scorpius might have been Malfoy in name, but his second cousin was definitely Black in personality. "Why would a Black allow someone unsuitable in the eyes of their society to be in his vicinity and risk someone realizing that that someone is in love with said Black. Wouldn't he avoid the bloke if for no other reason than to avoid the gossip that could result from their continued association? I mean Black are all about their reps and I just don't get it!"

"The most logical reason would be that this person meant enough to that Black for him to deem the risks acceptable."

Agreeing that that would be the most logical answer, but that he couldn't prove it one way or another since both men in the scenario were dead and couldn't tell him a thing, Teddy sighed and placed his head down on the book in front of him, groaning that even his dead Black relatives were giving him headaches now.

A flash of amusement crossed Wren's face before he lifted a hand to give Teddy's a brief pat on the shoulder. "Maybe try letting it simmer in the back of your mind, you never know what might boil to the surface if you give the facts time to come together."

"Well at this point it can't hurt."

)

After saying goodbye to Wren and putting the yearbooks away Teddy headed out of the castle, not quite sure why but feeling compelled to not head towards Hogsmeade, but walk across the grounds until he came to a spot where some large stones had been carved, both by hand and by time, to provide a scattering of spots on which to sit. He'd been vaguely aware that said rocks had been there while he'd been a student, but he'd never really made use of them. One of the rocks, he wasn't sure which one as he'd never bothered to look, bore his cousin Fred's initials and that of Gabrielle Goyle, a girl the boy had fancied since the two were hardly more than toddlers. She hadn't been terribly impressed by the act of vandalism as he recalled, much to Fred's disappointment. Of course using one's wand to leave messages in the trees and rocks on the school grounds wasn't exactly unusual, there was a tree stump near the Quidditch pitch that bore James's mark and Teddy wouldn't be surprised if other relatives of his had left their marks behind too.

Amused at the thought, and deciding to see what there was to see, Teddy started walking around to each stone, reading the names and initials, many overlapping as new students came and wrote over the old ones. Had he been paying more attention Teddy might have realized that he was arrowing towards a particular stone, the others barely holding his attention for more than a moment, but he didn't and felt no inclination to question his name browsing until he arrived at that stone, two sets of initials catching his eye immediately despite their weathered appearance. There weren't any other names overlapping them either, like something had prevented anyone from even partially erasing the letters carves so elegantly into stone.

R.A.B. and T.P.

Side by side.

"Ah, shit." Glaring down at the names, carved so perfectly into the stone, Teddy cursed some more under his breath and then sent up a silent prayer that some sort of explanation was forthcoming ASAP before the whole thing made him utterly mad.

)

In the dream Teddy was finally on his way back to the Slytherin dormitories to turn in for the night, having been delayed in his patrolling duties due to a group of unruly fifth years who'd gotten very, very pissed on whiskey they'd smuggled into the school. The alcohol had led to the boys thinking it was a swell idea for them to deface a few walls with anti Voldemort messages. And while he appreciated the sentiment, not that they'd believed him since he was in Slytherin, he'd been obligated to force them to remove the graffiti and then assign them their later punishments, which he'd had to go over a number of times because they wouldn't stop yelling or were just too damn drunk to get it the first few times. But now he'd seen them all safely back to their dormitories and could go to bed himself.

Smiling over that fact he was almost to his own dormitory when he spotted him, the fact that he hadn't heard the other Slytherin coming not surprising Teddy in the slightest as Regulus was very light on his feet. Moving out of the other teenager's line of vision automatically Teddy watched him closely, noting that the man's stride made it clear he was going somewhere specific. The question of where Regulus Black was going…now that was a mystery.

A meeting of future Death Eaters perhaps? He had no illusions that the bloke he was in love with had the sense to see the writing on the wall where the Dark Lord is concerned. No, Regulus was blind there, though hopefully not for long. Regulus was very intelligent after all, he had to see that joining the Death Eaters would mean crossing lines someone of Black's moral code would never cross. He just hoped the reality of what he was getting into struck his fellow Slytherin sooner rather than later.

Wanting to know what was going on, plus if he learned more about the people within the school that were thinking of joining Voldemort he could talk to Dumbledore about them and maybe he could talk sense into them…and alright, he just wanted to know where Regulus was going. And that being the case Teddy silently said to hell with it and hurried off in the direction Regulus had gone, hoping that he wasn't too far behind already. Tracking wasn't exactly in his skill set after all.

When Regulus headed outside Teddy hesitated again, he wasn't dressed to go outside and wasn't a nature person on top of that, but he'd come this far and so he slipped out of the castle too, covertly hiding behind walls, pillars and then the trees and bushes that he encountered along the way, his quarry never looking back so much as once.

He was actually pretty good at this, Teddy mused to himself, terribly impressed with his own prowess and thinking that maybe all those years of studying Regulus from afar had made him much better at this sort of thing then he'd realized.

Or so he thought right up until he found his arm grabbed and then used to swing him back against a tree he'd been hiding behind moments before. And while his arm was let go as soon as his back had made contact with the bark there was no question that he wasn't going anywhere as he found himself being physically crowded up against the tree by the slimmer but far more deadly body of Regulus Black, the sixth year moving in so that they were practically nose to nose, which stopped Teddy's breathing entirely.

"Have you completely taken leave of your senses?"

Lacking breath at the moment the best Teddy could do was shake his head even though mentally he was willing to admit that Regulus wasn't wrong to think that.

"You are very lucky, Theodore Prince, that I knew it was you following me. Had I not you'd be in an indescribable amount of pain right now." Shaking his head over the whole thing Regulus appeared to take a calming breath before his eyes pierced Teddy's own with a power behind it that had Teddy feeling like the other teenager could see straight down to the heart of him. "If you're going to continue to follow me around like a puppy you need to exercise more caution and awareness of your surroundings. If you don't someone is going to notice and start questioning why you're be doing something so stupid."

His ability to breath having returned to him somewhat, thank Merlin, Teddy tried to play dumb, stating that he had no idea what Regulus was talking about. He'd simply followed him tonight because as Head Boy it was his duty to bring Regulus back in.

"You intend to escort me back to our dormitories and punish me for my infraction?"

Mind not even functioning enough to question why Regulus would deliberately put a sexual purr to those words, Teddy was too busy dealing with the mental images that had resulted from the sexually charged statement. Namely Regulus on his knees, the too proud to go to get on his knees for anyone else Slytherin doing so for him so that he could show him just how sorry he was by wrapping those beautiful lips around the erection he was currently sporting at the moment. Or better yet them both naked in his bed, Regulus spread out before him so that he could kiss and touch as much as he wanted with the other Slytherin having to bear it and let him savor every dip and curve until he was good and ready to-

"Keep looking at me like that and everyone will know. I expect your hordes of fans and friends will decrease exponentially then, not to mention potentially ruin your engagement to that French chit. Go back inside, Prince, dock some points for my behavior, and then strive to STOP following me to the best of your largely pathetic ability."

Spinning around on his heels Regulus stalked off, the younger man's strides no longer easy and catlike, but more stilted, like a new colt still learning his legs.

)

Watching this, understanding for the first time, without any doubts, that Regulus at least had a pretty good idea how he felt about him, Teddy visibly shook from the impact of that realization before the next wave of understanding crashed over him, threatening to drag him under and drown him. Because if Regulus knew about his feelings than the other Slytherin knew he was a homosexual and therefore had a weapon against him that in their society could be as discrediting as pro-Muggle leanings. It was prime blackmail material, but Regulus had just told him that he could dock points from their house for his actions. That made no sense. None of this made sense. How long had Regulus known about him? Why had he never said anything? And why was the Slytherin, who horded information the way goblins hoarded their treasures, chosen not to use what he knew to his advantage?

Blacks used everything and everyone to their advantage. It was one of their defining characteristics.

Determined to find out, and saying to hell with the common sense and self-preservation instincts that hadn't been working properly since he'd fallen for Regulus anyway, Teddy lurched into motion, outright running after the other teenager without doing anything to try and hide his approach as he looked around for some sign of where Regulus had gone while he'd been standing around trying to understand the un-understandable.

There.

The moon was only at half its brilliance, but it was just enough light for him to spot Regulus even with the other teenager's all black wardrobe. And now that he thought about it he'd seen the Slytherin sitting there on that rock before over the years, so it must be a favored spot even at night.

Not that that mattered at the moment.

Charging ahead with a foolhardiness that Teddy imagined most Gryffindors would admire and emulate, Teddy watched Regulus's always perfect posture stiffen just a little more the closer he got, though again he was ignored right up until he was close enough for the other Slytherin to strike out at him. He was standing beside the rock when Regulus's head turned so fast the other teenager's dark hair flew up in reaction before settling around the face that was utterly expressionless except for the piercing eyes.

"What did I just tell you?"

Doing his best to ignore his instinct to either flee or apologize profusely, Teddy called upon the Slytherin genes many people claimed he didn't have and instead got straight to the point. "Why haven't you said anything before now?"

"Because apparently you lost what little common sense you have where I'm concerned over the summer. Not everyone in this school is so wrapped up in their pathetic little lives or the war brewing that they could fail to notice the way you watch and follow me. I'd bet the entire contents of my vault that Dumbledore knew almost right after I did." Regulus's tone took on a harsher note, though it was still coolly calm and rational. "And others won't be as easy to take care of as he was."