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.

Tea Party With Family

Teddy was never so grateful for a Sunday to arrive, especially after Saturday night's full moon had run its course without him receiving any letters in the morning indicating something had gone wrong with any of his people. That meant that he could keep his appointment to have tea with Teddy Prince's little sister, who was apparently tickled pink at the idea of meeting him. Or to be more precise she was happy for any excuse to finally get a chance to meet Rosie. Apparently Sev had never bothered to introduce his girlfriend to his grandmother; much to the latter's displeasure.

Hopefully meeting Rosie would put the old woman in such a good mood that it wouldn't matter that the topic they'd actually come to talk about could only be painful for her. It was true that he didn't know how the other Teddy's sisters had felt about their big brother, he hadn't been wandering inside their heads too, thank Merlin, but he did know without a shadow of a doubt that the long dead Slytherin had loved them very much. Slytherin Teddy been willing to marry someone he not only didn't love, but could never be happy with just for their sake. Putting himself in the shoes of said sisters, Teddy couldn't imagine them not appreciating and most likely feeling guilty as hell over the sacrifice their brother had made for them. Or at least he'd feel crappy as hell.

Of course he could just be projecting at this point since he was feeling crappy as hell too. His current dreams revolved around being ignored by Regulus or, in one case, grabbing the Slytherin in a moment of desperation after a Prefects meeting and getting just a short taste of the other man's mouth before Regulus had jabbed his head with his wand in a clear threat of dire injury if he didn't turn him loose.

He'd turned him loose and watched Regulus walk away from him. Without a backward glance. Again.

And while meeting Eleanor Prince Nott wasn't going to stop the bad dreaming any time soon, Teddy was hoping it might trigger some better memories. Memories that involved that sister and not Slytherin Teddy's obsession and love for one Regulus Black. He could hope, anyway.

Dressing well, grandmothers cared about such things in his experience, Teddy stopped to get flowers and then apparated to the address he'd been given, surprised to find not only Rosie waiting for him, but Hugo as well.

"Hey, Hugo. What are you doing here?"

"He wanted to meet the grandmother and find out what she knows too. You know what a hopeless romantic he is."

Used to his sister talking for him, Hugo just smiled and lifted a hand and returned Teddy's greeting. Rosie wasn't wrong after all, though he hadn't told her the main reason he wanted to meet his classmate's grandmother. That was his little secret for the time being.

"The more the merrier. Especially since Slytherins are generally short on merriness."

"You should try dating one."

Teddy and Hugo gave Rosie amused looks, rants about Sev nothing new from her. But since she was hard to stop once she was on a roll Hugo pointed out that they should head to the door and knock before someone noticed them loitering around and sent one of the house's elves to remove them from the premises.

"We were invited, Hugo."

"True. But she is the maternal grandmother of both Sev and Alexei, and the security spells on the place are impressive from what I'm seeing at the moment. So yeah…better safe than sorry. Or in St. Mungo."

"Man's got a point."

And since he did the three of them headed for the front doors and knocked, a house elf opening the door right away and bowing low to them respectfully. A surprisingly cheerful elf, one full of goodwill as he took their coats and insisted on carry the beautiful flowers Teddy had brought for the elf's mistress.

Coats stowed away and flowers handed over the elf led them to a solarium where an elderly woman sat at a table set for tea, the witch talking with two handsome boys who all turned to look at their guests as they entered the room, the elf announcing them.

"Them? This is who you're expecting for tea?" Alexei stared at the three visitors before turning his gaze to his grandmother, his expression utterly bewildered.

"Yes, Dear." Eleanor smiled lovingly at her younger grandson before turning that smile to her guests, gracefully getting to her feet and walking around the table to greet them properly. To Teddy's eyes he could see it, see the coloring and facial features that confirmed the woman's familial connection to Teddy Prince. It was a jolt to feel a connection to her, she wasn't his sister after all, but still, Teddy was happy to see her and had to force himself not to greet her as though he knew her.

"Please come in, it's so lovely to meet you all." Every inch the lady, Eleanor Nott greeted them graciously, her gaze settling on Rosie almost immediately. "You especially, Rosie. Your lady friend is quite pretty, Sev."

While Sev rolled his eyes over that Rosie's cheeks went a becoming pink as she thanked Sev's grandmother for having them for tea.

"It's my pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Nott. Thank you for agreeing to meet all of us." Smiling at her Teddy took the hand she offered, kissing it gallantly before moving aside so that Hugo could greet her as well.

"It's no problem at all." Their hostess assured them when Hugo echoed Teddy's thanks for letting him tag along too. "I understand from his mother that Rosie bribed Sev quite thoroughly with chocolate, and I would imagine those lovely flowers in Drake's hands are from you, Mr. Lupin. The grandson of Andromeda Black would have proper manners."

"She made sure of that, yes. And Teddy is fine, Mrs. Nott."

"You let her bribe you into bringing her here?" Alexei gave his cousin a disgusted look while their grandmother admired the flowers Teddy had brought for her. "Did you ever stop to think that odds are they have some ulterior motive for coming here, you brainless chocoholic."

"One, I get better grades than you do by far, and two, you'd do well to remember how easy it would be for me to poison you."

"One, your addiction to chocolate makes you do stupid things, and two, you've been poisoning me since we were little and I'm still alive."

"Yes, but back then I was just experimenting on you, not actively trying to kill you. That could change."

"Boys." Their grandmother's tone held a hint of firm warning. "I'm well aware that this is your gender's juvenile way of expressing affection for one another, but it's still unseemly to threaten each other while we have company. Particularly when they haven't even had refreshments yet. Alexei, I believe you stated that you had plans that prevented you from joining us. You can go, Dear. I might be old, but I'm still a Slytherin. Mostly."

Alexei glanced in Sev's direction and then stated that he was staying for tea.

"As you like. Please, you three, come over and take a seat. Drake, another chair for my grandson, please. And a vase for those lovely flowers, so that we can all enjoy them."

)

In short order they were all seated around the prettily put together table, tea poured and pretty cakes, cookies, and cucumber sandwiches placed on plates. Naturally Sev's plate consisted mainly of chocolate, though his grandmother was able to stare him down into taking one sandwich and eating that first. Alexei and Hugo both piled food onto their plates, growing boys and all that, while Teddy and Rosie took normal portions and tried to convince themselves that they wouldn't overindulge since Sev's grandmother had obviously taken Sev's presence into consideration when it came to the amount of sweets before them.

Aside from the struggle not to over eat, the first half of the tea part consisted of standard small talk; the topics covered the usual, school, dating, family, and career aspirations for the teenagers, questions about his job, love life and family for Teddy.

Naturally it was Alexei who was driven to distraction by it first, the Slytherin straight out asking Teddy why he'd wanted to meet his grandmother since the only logical reason why he was there was because Lupin had needed an in and the Weasleys had provided it through Sev's chocolate addiction. So what did he want with his grandmother?

"Excuse, him, he doesn't mean to be rude. He's just very protective of me." Eleanor gave Alexei an adoring look before smiling knowingly at Teddy, silently asking in her own way that he explain why he'd wanted to see her.

"As it happens, if it's alright with you, I'd like to talk to you about your brother."

"My brother? Teddy?" Eleanor blinked in surprise. "And here I thought it rather strange, that you should remind me of him above and beyond his name. His pet name, anyway. We, my sisters and I, never called him Theodore. How do you even know about him?"

"I recently purchased a painting by him."

Immediately everything about Eleanor's demeanor changed, her eyes sharpening and her posture straightening, focusing in on Teddy like he was the only one who existed in the room. "None of my brother's works save for what he gave away or gifted people with as a boy still exist. He stopped painting after his marriage, and my sisters and I have worked hard to purchase his works from those in possession of them. Which one do you…oh." Her eyes widened with knowledge. "You aren't an art collector, are you, Mr. Lupin?"

"No, Madame, I'm not."

"My brother did primarily portraits, it was people that fascinated him the most. And to my knowledge the only paintings we don't possess of his are ones belonging to families who have promised to sell the paintings to us should they ever decide to put them on the market. Save for one; that I'm aware of. One my sister in law disposed of as soon as Teddy died. The only one of his paintings he kept until the end."

"You know the real reason I'm here, don't you, Mrs. Nott?"

"I sure as hell would like to know." Alexei muttered, the type who could never stand to be left out of the loop. "Are you trying to get her to buy this mysterious portrait from you?"

"No. I'm not selling it."

"He hid the portrait in question from everyone. Used magic so that when anyone but him looked at it they'd see just a picture of our family home, nothing special. But my sister Ivy caught sight of him working on it one night, after he thought we'd all gone to bed, and she saw him put the spells on it to hide the truth. She told me, and we never told him. Truth be told we were in shock for quite a while." Her lips curving into a sad smile, Eleanor's eyes held a hint of vacancy, her thoughts gone into the past. "We knew there was someone, but he hid the direction of his interest well."

Sev and Alexei both glared at everyone, united in their bitterness that no one was explaining what the hell was really going on here.

Naturally it was Hugo who took pity on the two, the boy actually patting Alexei's hand in sympathy. "We believe that your great uncle and Teddy's grandmother's cousin Regulus might have been romantically involved when they were at Hogwarts together."

The two cousins stared at Hugo for several heartbeats, processing this very slowly since they hadn't seen it coming at all.

It was Sev who made the connection of who they were talking about first. "That's the one who stole the Horcrux locket, right? And got taken out by Inferi?"

Nods of agreement.

"He was one hell of a Quidditch seeker."

No one was surprised that that was how Alexei would recognize the name, the Slytherin was notoriously Quidditch obsessed. It was often whispered that if the captain of the Slytherin team, Flint, were a girl or gay he and Alexei would be a match made in Slytherin heaven. That he and the Gryffindor captain, Amanda Wood, would be a match made in hell was equally agreed upon by their peers.

"Should I take what Hugo said to mean you don't know if anything came of my brother's feelings for Black?"

"I believe it was reciprocated, but whether either acted on it…the painting would suggest that if nothing else, your brother at least knew it wasn't one sided." That was the best way Teddy could think to put it, especially since he wasn't going to mention the dreams unless he had to.

"I see." Eleanor leaned back in seat, weary acceptance on her face now. "I hope they had their time together before it ended. And if not…well they're together now, if there's any justice in the world. I can take comfort in that at least."

After a moment Eleanor asked if she might visit Teddy's home to see the portrait, his offer to take her there after tea gratefully accepted. Even Sev's curiosity had been piqued enough that he decided to tag along, Alexei deciding to come as well since he wanted to make sure that the visit didn't prove too much for his grandmother. Not that the Slytherin said that, Alexei's excuse was that he just wanted to see the portrait of the former Slytherin seeker, but no one really believed the fifteen year old's lame excuse, though only Sev smirked at him for it. The others actually thought it rather cute, that the boy was so fiercely protective of his grandmother.

To take some of the heat off Alexei Hugo asked Eleanor if her sister in law would know anything that might help them. Or would it only upset her?

"Juliette knew that there was someone. Or at least I think he told her that much. But asking her…I'm afraid that would get you nowhere. I myself haven't talked to her in decades at this point, or my nephew for that matter, though that's him respecting her wishes on the matter. She feels my brother and my family did her a great wrong, you see, and Juliette is the sort that sees the world the way she wants to see it."

"A great wrong?" Alexei repeated.

"She was spoiled, treated like a princess from childhood. She imagined marrying her Prince Charming when she grew up, and despite his last name that was not Teddy. Not by the time they got married. He'd stopped being our Teddy then." Tears gathered in her eyes, but they didn't fall. "He went through the motions of living, worked hard for her father and provided well for her, but he couldn't love her and she couldn't accept that. Understandable really, everyone deserves to marry for love…but…my brother was suffering too. She couldn't see that, or accept that some things, like the heart, can't be forced to change."

"His son was a teenager when he passed away?"

"Yes. Phillipe. He inherited Teddy's artistic gifts, but his style is not…my sort of thing. He married very young too, quite the scandal from what I hear as the woman was much older than him. They have one or two children, but I couldn't even tell you their names."

With a look of morbid interest Sev asked just what kind of art his mother's cousin did.

"Forest and castle scenes mostly, from what I've seen of his work." Eleanor's lips twitched a little in amusement. "With a lot of frolicking magical creatures, especially unicorns. He has a marked perchance for unicorns."

The look on Sev and Alexei's faces said that they found the idea that such a man was related to them to be utterly horrifying.

The others could sorta relate.

Coming to the mental decision that he wouldn't be contacting the other Teddy's widow, her word couldn't be trusted given the amount of hurt and bad feelings she apparently had, Teddy also dismissed the idea of contacting her son too. Phillipe would either know nothing, given how young he'd been when his father passed away, or what he did know would have been influenced by his mother and Teddy didn't want to hurt the Prince family by picking at old wounds.

And okay, he was also a little worried at the idea that if he did go to France to talk to these people he'd possibly have to look at creepy as hell paintings to be polite. He'd really rather avoid that.

Obviously coming to the same conclusion Rosie asked Sev's grandmother if she knew of any friends Teddy had been close to that might be able to tell them more about her brother's possibly relationship with Regulus.

"I'm afraid not, unfortunately. Teddy was one of those people who had many, many casual friends, but really close friends…not so much. Not any he would have trusted with such a personal and potentially dangerous secret." Eleanor sighed, remembering how it had once been and so very grateful it had changed in time for Alexei's generation. "I'd like to believe that those closest to him would have kept Teddy's secrets if he'd trusted them with it, one slip up would have been all it would have taken to get him into a world of trouble. And Black…I don't even want to think of what his father would have done to anyone who suggested his son was a homosexual. What he would have done to the boy if he found out it was true."

Since Teddy did indeed have a good idea what his grandmother's uncle would have done if he'd found out Regulus was gay, he'd heard plenty of stories about the old bastard from his grandmother, Teddy asked Eleanor what she thought her own parents would have done. He hadn't really thought about that in his dreams so he hadn't gotten a sense of them aside from despairing over his 'father's' complete lack of common sense.

"They wouldn't have casted him out of the family, which was fairly progressive considering the time and societal views at the time. But they would have still expected him to marry Juliette and hide what he was. That's what you did then." Eleanor frowned at that, then perked right up as she smiled at Alexei. "Of course now I don't have to worry about that. I'll get to see Alexei marry some nice young wizard someday, won't I?"

"If I get married." Slytherin evilness had Alexei pointing out that Sev was the one with a girlfriend.

Talk about throwing someone under the Hogwart's Express. Ouch.