Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

So sorry this took so long, btw! My HP muses deserted me and only recently, and grudgingly agreed to cooperate a little. Ugh!

Beneath The Surface

One of the few good things about being a major workaholic who was constantly being told that he spent far too much time in his office was that people were thrilled when you asked them if they wouldn't mind you taking a couple hours off for a long lunch. You'd think it was a gift to them, Teddy asking them if they'd hold down the fort and cover for him. It was both touching and...a little irritating, actually. He wasn't nearly as bad as they were making him out to be and having a proper work ethic was not something you should make people feel-nevermind. Not important. What was important was that with his office covered he was able to leave the Ministry to head to Hogwarts with a clear conscience. Mostly. He hated leaving work undone and if he'd just stayed a few more minutes he could have finished that one report which needed to be mailed as soon as possible and...

Okay. Maybe they had a small, tiny point.

And with that in mind Teddy forced all thoughts of work aside and quickly made his way to the castle with as close to single-minded focus as he could manage. There were a lot of things competing for his attention mentally, but nobody compartmentalized like a Black. At least according to his grandmother. And her word was law.

His lingering amusement over his grandmother related thoughts died a rather quick death though when he caught sight of the two men hanging out inside the castle's main entrance. One he was thrilled to see while the other, well he would have been quite happy if Regulus had left Wren behind.

Oh well.

"Hello, Regulus. Wren."

"He insisted on coming." Regulus explained as he walked over to him. And brushed their lips together in a greeting that Teddy would have appreciated a lot more if he hadn't sensed that Wren's presence fueled the gesture. "I hope you don't mind, but we were hoping to join you in speaking to Professor Dumbledore's portrait."

He had mentioned his plan to come here as he'd walked Regulus out last night, hadn't he? Obviously his brain had still been scrambled by the earlier kisses. Damn.

"You're damn right we're going with him and finding out what the hell is going on here. None of this makes any sense and there's no way in hell I'm letting you expose yourself to a portrait that might brainwash you the way it's obviously done where he's concerned." Marching over Wren looked coldly ready to deliver a beating the moment Teddy gave him the slimmest of excuses. "And I want to see this portrait, Lupin. ASAP. Not to mention, I'll be having a word with Harry about him letting you keep what is obviously a dangerous trap of some sort."

"It's not, but I understand your concern. And I have to get back to work after this meeting, but we could meet up for dinner if that suits. You can see it then."

Regulus neatly inserted himself between the two of them. "Stop raging, Wren. You are still recovering, remember? And Teddy has done nothing wrong."

"I'm fine."

"No. You're not. And as I said before I will not hesitate to sic the parents on you if you continue to overexert yourself. Before I told you about the painting and the rest you always described Teddy as a good and honorable man. You need to remember that. Especially since you are not helping, glaring at him this way. He doesn't have to let us come with him. Or show you the portrait."

"I'd let you regardless." The thought that Regulus might only be showing interest in him to have access to the painting entered Teddy's mind, turning his stomach.

"Such an expressive face." Expression softening a little Regulus reached up to cup Teddy's cheek, Teddy leaning into the touch instinctively. "I was interested in you before you showed me the painting and told me of this mystery. I would say, wouldn't you, that it is I who should be wary of false emotions and gestures given that we know the painting has clouded your judgement."

"I'd have thought you beautiful and worth getting to know even without the painting."

Regulus's lips quirked in pleased amusement while Wren snorted.

"Regardless, we should head to the Headmaster's office, yes? That's where Wren says Dumbledore's portrait is kept."

"Yes. I made an appointment so the headmaster's expecting us. And we actually better hurry because I'm on my lunch break technically." Which was true...but also meant Wren would waste less time arguing with him. Hopefully.

And Wren proved to be rational enough to accept that, though he gave Teddy dirty looks the entire way there while Regulus did his best to distract Teddy by asking him about his time as a student at Hogwarts.

Thankfully he and Wren made it to the door leading to the Headmaster's Office without coming to blows or arguing, so points for them.

Using the password he'd been given Teddy gained access to the guarded staircase and led the way up to the office where Professor Corden was waiting, scribbling away on a piece of parchment at his desk as they entered. As per usual the current head of Hogwarts looked rather like he'd just rolled out of bed, his robes a wrinkled mess while his frizzy grey hair and beard were in desperate need of taming. He was a good man though, and Teddy had enjoyed his classes and company when he'd been a student.

"Hello, Professor."

"Ah, Teddy, hello. Always lovely to see you. I miss your colorful appearance around this old place."

Grinning, Teddy turned his hair a bright orange to make the older man laugh.

"And Professor Owens of course, and...this is your cousin, yes? I'm sorry, dear boy, but I'm afraid I've forgotten your name. You didn't attend Hogwarts as I recall."

"Regulus Prince, Headmaster. Don't give it another thought. It is my pleasure to meet you again."

"All mine, all mine." Getting up from his chair with some cracking and creaking that suggested the Headmaster was really feeling his age at the moment, Professor Corden came around his desk with a rueful look on his face, one hand on his lower back. "Getting old is hell, Boys. And it gets worse every year, I'm afraid."

He sighed. "Now then, Teddy, you asked if you might have a private word with Dumbledore?"

"Yes, please. I-we're looking into our family histories, so to speak, and we're hoping that he can tell us more about two of the school's former students and their time here."

"Well if anyone remembers it will be him." Corden turned around to glance in the direction of the portrait in question before turning back around to give them a smile. "Unlike myself, who would forget my head if it wasn't, thankfully, attached to my neck. Of course Nearly Headless Nick would give anything to have a detached head, but what if he lost it? How does a ghost find a missing limb? And would it even exist after a certain time away from the rest of its body? One presumes that it would as-but nevermind. You know if I get started I'll talk your ears off for hours on end. I'll go stretch my legs for a bit, work the kinks out, and leave you lot to it, all right?"

"Thank you, Professor."

"Yes, thank you very much." Regulus added, elbowing Wren in the side to elicit another thank you.

"No problem, no problem. Happy to help."

And with an absentminded smile Professor Corden waved off Teddy's offer to assist him down the stairs, wryly informing them that he wasn't that bad off yet before disappearing from view.

"We're going to find him at the bottom of those stairs one day." Wren grumbled, the hint of concern in his voice belaying his tone.

"He's tougher than he looks."

At the sound of another voice in the room they three of them turned around to face the portrait that had been situated behind the headmaster's desk. Dumbledore's portrait.

Together they headed over in that direction, skirting around the desk to get closer to the main who watched them with curious blue eyes behind half moon glasses. Teddy had seen the portrait and even spoken with Dumbledore on occasion during his time at Hogwarts but he'd never lost his awe, or sympathy, for the great figure before him.

Regulus grabbed the headmaster's chair and turned it around to face the portrait, ordering Wren to take a seat. Or else.

Wren glared. But sat.

)

"I've taught and known many Princes, but never have I met one who could so perfectly replicate the 'Black' tone of voice." Dumbledore informed them with a twinkle in his eyes. "Though when riled your grandfather could go toe to toe with any Black, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Mr. Prince. Though your resemblance to a Black who shares your first name is a surprise...I don't recall any Blacks or Princes who intermarried this century or last."

"You knew my grandfather well?"

"Oh yes. He was a wonderful student and Head Boy. I was very sorry to hear of his passing."

"Thank you."

"So the reason we came, well it has to do with another Regulus and Teddy. But first..." Pulling out his wand Teddy twirled it once in his fingers and then used it to issue a little spell that would keep their conversation from reaching the other portraits around the room.

"Ah. One of your godfather's favorite spells, that."

"Yeah." Teddy grinned at that, though only for a moment before he got to the point of their visit. "We have a bit of a situation, Professor. And we're really hoping you can help us."

Reacting to the tone, Dumbledore's whole demeanor shifted, his expression serious as he asked Teddy to explain.

Knowing better than to hold back anything, and this was too important to him to care about personal embarrassment, Teddy gave all but the most intimate details as he told the famous headmaster everything that had happened after he'd gotten the portrait of Regulus Black. About the dreams, certain events he'd seen that perhaps Dumbledore would have known about from back then, and the conversations he'd had with Teddy Prince's younger sister about the two. He ended with the research his Aunt Hermione had done into the situation with her children and the meeting of Regulus when Wren had ended up in the hospital.

"That's...that's about it I think."

"That's more than enough to start with, anyway." Dumbledore assured him. "And I'm glad you're all right, Professor Owens. Above and beyond how devastated young James would be if anything were to happen to you."

Wren glared some more but didn't comment.

"Back to the matter at hand. I can say with absolute certainty that Theodore Prince didn't knowingly place a spell on that portrait, Teddy. Either someone else did, which given the rest seems highly unlikely, or it was done accidentally, a byproduct of the love and intensity of emotion he felt for the painting and its subject. Love and magic are a powerful combination."

"Did Regulus, Black Regulus, really threaten you about him?" Teddy still couldn't imagine it.

"He did. Very subtly, and with great...care and choice of words. But his meaning was quite clear. Confusing to me at the time, as I'd been fairly sure he had no interest in Theodore one way or another. Originally I assumed that he simply didn't wish to be known as the object of another boy's affection. Or perhaps wanted to avoid the stain of admitting Slytherin housed a homosexual. But of course later..." Old pain and suffering came into Dumbledore's eyes. "I wish there'd been something I could have done, but their paths were set. And neither would or could deviate from it."

"So you knew they were a couple." Wren stated.

"Yes. In Theodore's last year, as your dreams suggest. He hid it as best he could, though he was nowhere near as skilled as Mr. Black." A sigh. "I think the worst part of it all was the knowing that in a different time and place, one accepting of them...they'd have had a good life together. A happy one."

"You think so?" It was good to hear, since Teddy knew he was biased.

"Yes. Now if you said that to anyone who knew, or I should say thought they knew them, most would tell you I'm mad to think so. They'd tell you that the two couldn't have been more different and likely gone on quite the rant about how the Sorting Hat must have had some tangled mind threads the day he sorted Theodore into Slytherin."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"On the surface, yes, they couldn't have been more different. But in reality..." Dumbledore trailed for a moment, pondering how best to explain it. "Both of them were born into lives already planned out for them. Pushed into molds that, for the most part, they accepted without question. Both your ancestors put family and family obligations before their own wants and needs, and lacked loving support and guidance from those who should have provided it. Theodore's parents loved him, I think, but spent his childhood trying to fill the family coffers without success and trying to hide their poor circumstances from society. From what I know they had little time for any of their children, and Theodore was more parent than brother to his sisters. Meanwhile I think it's fair to say that Mr. Black's father didn't know how to love anyone. And while one could argue that his mother did love him, it was a selfish love. More about the love Regulus could give her than anything else. Sirius...I tried to get him to reach out to his brother, to try and help him. But neither brother ever saw the other clearly and Sirius...I have many regrets where he's concerned. Another man with great potential unrealized."

"They were on opposite sides of The War." Wren pointed out.

"True enough, insofar as Theodore wasn't anti-Muggle or a big believer in Blood Purity. And as for Regulus Black...it's always far easier to learn to hate something than to learn to un-hate it. And war...no one who's never lived through one can truly understand it. The waste and cost both in mind and body. That was the problem with the younger Mr. Black. With both Blacks, actually, only in different ways. in war you objectify and stereotype the enemy. You're manipulated by those in power and on 'your side' to see things their way and believe, absolutely, that you're always in the right. That you know better. And that the end always justifies the means. That it's all 'For the Greater Good'."

Knowing the meaning behind those last words Teddy wished he could give Dumbledore's shoulder a squeeze.

"Regulus Black was honorable. Flawed, yes. Bigoted against Muggles and those he considered his lessers, unquestionably. But still...honorable, in his way. Killing innocents, the unarmed and helpless...it wasn't in him. When faced with that choice, not in theory but in practice, I knew he wouldn't. Couldn't. And that they'd kill him for it. But he'd been taught to trust nothing I said before he stepped foot in Hogwarts, and he was only a boy. Teenagers rarely listen to words they don't want to hear."

"It must have taken incredible courage, to do what he did. Wren told me."

Dumbledore looked over in Regulus's direction. "Having stood where he stood, and suffered as he suffered, I can tell you that you're absolutely correct. "

"Too bad he didn't pick love over war."

The look Dumbledore aimed in Wren's direction had the man's shoulders hunching defensively. "Despite what romantics would have us believe, love is not all one needs. And it can harm as easily as it saves. If they could have been together, if society had allowed it, then yes, I do think Regulus might have stepped off the Death Eater's path. Learned to see the world a little more kindly, as Theodore did. But that was not the world they lived in. They would have lost their families and been penniless. Pariahs wherever they went. Their families disgraced, with Theodore's sisters put up for auction in his place and Regulus's mother without him around to care and tend to her. And I wouldn't have put it past Orion Black to kill Theodore, to punish and bring Regulus to heel. They knew that."

"Why did so many of my relatives have to suck?"

Dumbledore chuckled at that, which Teddy didn't begrudge.

He appreciated the way Regulus reached across Wren to set a comforting hand on his shoulder though.

"Too much money, power, and ego tend to do that, unfortunately. And there have been few wizarding families in this world who could or can compete with the Blacks when it comes to pride and sense of self-worth."

"Truth."

"How is your grandmother, by the way?"

"She's well, thanks."

Wren smirked over at Regulus as he stated that he couldn't wait to see what she made of him and vice versa.

Which was when Teddy learned that Regulus had an impressive 'bitch brow'.

"I'm rather sorry I'll miss it." Was Dumbledore's amused statement. "And back to the matter at hand...I'm not sure how else I can help you, aside from confirm that the dreams you related line up with my knowledge of events. Neither boy had family they would have confined in about this, or friends for that matter. Regulus had minions and peers he allowed in his company, while Theodore had many casual friends but none he let too close. Would have trusted to that degree. The only advice I can give any of you is to learn from their mistakes, and the choices they made. And be very, very thankful you live in a time where you're not only free to love whom you like, but have families who love and support you."

Teddy spoke softly. "Thank you, Professor."