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Written in Stone

After speaking to Dumbledore for another ten minutes or so as they caught him up on the recent happenings in the Wizarding World Teddy had to call an end to the conversation so that he could head back to work. And so that the present Headmaster could have his office back. Wishing them well, and asking to be kept in the loop regarding their quest for answers, Dumbledore waved them off from his portrait as they left the headmaster's office and made their way back down the stairs.

Thankfully Headmaster Corden was not at the bottom of them.

Holding the door open for the other two Teddy waited until they were out in the hallway again before broaching the subject of one last stop before he left the school grounds. Unless Wren and Regulus had somewhere they needed to go. It wouldn't take long.

"You have a surprise for us?" Regulus asked, intrigued.

"Sort of?"

"Lead the way."

Naturally Wren insisted on coming if his cousin was going, so the three of them set out together.

"Were you happy here during your time as a student?"

"For the most part, yes. I didn't like being away from my grandmother or the rest of my family, and the teenage years are always traumatizing to some degree, but overall I was lucky. I was the Chosen One's godson and a metamorphmagus, so I was never going to be at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak. People wanted to be my friend, generally. I can usually get along with anyone and the teachers liked me too. Except when my grandmother disagreed with their lesson plans."

"Thank Merlin I missed out on that joy." Wren muttered.

Given that his paternal grandmother was a Muggle, his maternal grandfather had been a Muggleborn, and his godfather had grown up in a Muggle household Teddy hadn't seen the point in taking Muggle Studies. Not that it wasn't a worthwhile subject, particularly for those who had had little to no contact with Muggles during their childhood. And James of course hadn't needed it at all and had only taken the class to get near Wren. Which Wren was very much aware of.

"Wren has mentioned that. That you and the Potter children were considered celebrities at school."

"Yeah. Nothing quite like being fawned over because your parents died or nearly died at the Battle of Hogwarts." Teddy made sure to lay the sarcasm thick. "I ignored it for the most part. James loves attention so it didn't bother him any, and Lily takes everything in stride. Albus was really the only one it got to, especially since he's the only one that looks like Uncle Harry. He's better about it now, but he had quite a chip on his shoulders there for a while. And who could blame him."

"It is always difficult, living in the shadow of another. Not to be seen."

"And here you two are, thinking that you might be reincarnations of two blokes that lived decades ago."

Shaking his head over that, though Wren did have a point, Teddy returned to their earlier subject by asking Regulus if he'd enjoyed his time at Beauxbatons.

"I was always destined to become an artist and so my time at school often seemed like a waste of time. I was not going to ever need to know so much of what they taught, you see. It was also most annoying the way the teachers would push me towards other careers because I so excelled academically. Were it not for personal pride I would have sabotaged my work just to shut them up." Regulus made a sound of remembered annoyance that was somehow very French to Teddy's ears. "As for being popular...I have never been the most social of people."

"Not to mention a lot of the girls were jealous that you were prettier than they were."

Regulus shot his cousin a look that made it clear he didn't appreciate the teasing.

"I told you to come to Hogwarts."

"Hmph. This school has absolutely no appreciate for the arts."

Having never thought about that before Teddy wondered outloud why that was. They'd had clubs and a choir, art wise, but as far as he knew Hogwarts hadn't had any 'art' based classes in a long time. Assuming it ever had. He'd have to ask Aunt Hermione about that when he saw her next. She was sure to know.

"You British have no appreciation for the arts. Or if you do you acquire the art from countries who produce those with talent, not create it yourselves."

Ouch.

"Don't even try and argue the point with him. He and I have been having it for years." Wren advised Teddy, the older man rolling his eyes for the sole purpose of annoying Regulus.

"I'll admit that the French are superior when it comes to great works of art."

The pleased smile Regulus aimed in his direction threatened to turn Teddy's brains to absolute mush.

"Ugh. And stop holding hands in front of me. You've only just met."

"What are-" Teddy glanced down towards the space between him and Regulus, eyes widening a little as he saw that their fingers were linked. When had that happened? He didn't recall taking Regulus's hand and-and judging from the surprise Teddy saw in Regulus's eyes he wasn't the only one.

His surprise shifting to amusement, Regulus squeezed his hand. "I don't mind unless you do."

"Not in the slightest."

"I'm going to be sick."

Since Wren had had a horrible allergic reaction recently both Teddy and Regulus looked him over to make sure that he wasn't actually going to throw up before shaking their heads at him. Teddy couldn't help but point out that Wren was being as big a drama queen as James typically was.

That stunned James speechless for a lovely stretch of time before he found his voice enough to list all the ways in which he was most certainly nothing like James Sirius Potter. Wisely they let him because it kept him occupied and not commenting on their handholding or the peculiar way in which this relationship had started. Of course it couldn't last, though they were almost at their destination when Wren demanded to know why they were outside and where exactly was their final destination.

Teddy pointed towards the collection of rocks.

"The rocks? Why would you-please tell me you haven't done something stupid like carve yours and Regulus's initials into one of them. That's so-oh fuck. Your ancestor and Regulus's did, didn't they? That's what we're here to see."

"I found them that day you and I met up here at the school, Wren."

"This is a tradition here at the school? To carve your initials and those of the one you love into the rocks to be preserved?" Regulus's tone suggested he thought that both sweet and stupid. "Are your initials on any of them, Teddy?"

Recognizing that tone of voice Teddy was grateful that he could honestly say he'd never been tempted to deface any part of Hogwarts. If his name was encased in a heart somewhere someone else was to blame. And had never told him about it.

"And you, Cousin Mine?"

"Hell no."

"At least not that you know about." Teddy pointed out. The man had been VERY popular both as a student and now as a teacher. He'd heard the stories.

"If James dared he and I will have words."

It was very much something James would do, but hadn't as far as Teddy knew.

Wren's expression suggested that he didn't believe him.

"It's that one, isn't it?"

Looking in the direction Regulus was pointing Teddy nodded, immensely gratified that it had called to Regulus somehow too. He'd been pretty freaked out before, when he'd actually stopped to think about the likelihood of him finding those two sets of initials among all the rest. There were generations of initials carved all over those rocks. The odds would not have been in his favor, especially since he hadn't been looking for them in the first place.

Tugging on Teddy's hand rather than just letting go and going over himself, Regulus led them both over to the rock in question, Wren hovering behind them until Regulus found the names they were looking for. Then Wren crowded in to study the initials as well, glaring at them suspiciously.

"So they had this and the portrait." Regulus said softly as his finger traced the letters. "Symbols of their love that would remain even after death."

"At least there's something. Some don't even have that much." Wren pointed out.

Sad but true.

)

Since Teddy couldn't apparate from school grounds and wanted a little more time with Regulus he offered to walk Regulus and Wren back to Hogsmeade. After all Wren had just gotten out of the hospital recently, and was looking a tad pale. Of course Wren always looked pale so that was nothing new. But it earned him points with Regulus so Teddy considered it a win as they headed away from the castle towards the small village where Wren's cottage was located.

They weren't quite halfway there though when they spotted a lone figure coming towards them along the path. A figure who immediately waved his arms enthusiastically in their direction before picking up speed to intercept them faster.

Wren narrowed his eyes, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun above. "Is that..?"

On a chuckle Teddy nodded in confirmation. He'd know that mop of curls and gangly body anywhere.

"Is he someone I should-oh. Nevermind. Wren has spoken of this boy to me."

Opening his mouth to ask just what Wren had told Regulus about his cousin Teddy ended up wincing instead as Hugo tripped over something and took a header right into the dirt with a very loud thud.

"Shit. You okay, Baby?" Teddy shouted out to Hugo, letting go of Regulus' hand to jog over to make sure Hugo hadn't broken something this time around. His little cousin was moving around at least. That was a good sign. Of course Hugo wasn't always the most aware person in the world so he might have broken something and was just being slow to notice.

"I'm okay!"

Stopping in front of Hugo Teddy held out a hand to help him to his feet, Hugo accepting it with a good natured grin. He really was ridiculous.

"What did I trip on?"

"No idea." Not even bothering to look Teddy focused on getting some debris out of the boy's curls.

"You call him your baby?" Regulus's voice practically dripped frozen icicles, the tone freezing Teddy in his tracks as Regulus and Wren walked up behind him.

"Ahhhhhh...it's not like that."

"All my cousins call me Baby." Hugo explained cheerfully as he smiled brightly at the two newcomers before going back to brushing off the dust from his clothing with practiced ease. "Some people think I should object to that but I know they mean it as a term of endearment." Another blinding smile in Regulus's direction. "Bonjour, Regulus. Je suis Hugo Weasley. Ça va?"

"Better than you are doing, it seems. You're bleeding." Regulus responded in French, the language sounding so much sexier to Teddy's ears when it was Regulus talking. Especially since there was rueful amusement and not unspoken threats in it.

"Am I? Where?"

"I see it." Pulling out his handkerchief Teddy pressed it against his cousin's arm. "It's not bad, though."

"Oh. Thanks. Also sorry for not coming to talk to you as soon as I learned he was here. That was a plot twist I did not see coming, but rather feel like I should have." Hugo's expression was full of remorse for the oversight.

"It's fine."

"He knows?"

"Of course. Teddy's not an idiot so as soon as he started having those dreams he knew to come straight to my family so that we could look into it. I mean he was sure it wasn't a horcrux and after he explained everything we had to agree with him, but our family's had enough brushes with those bloody things to last a lifetime. Not to mention make us super cautious about them. Which is why I'm here!"

"You're on the way to the castle to use the library?" Teddy asked.

Hugo grinned as he pushed his glasses back into place. "Sort of. Maybe? You see I just learned that there's a collection of 'Strange but True' stories that features a story like yours. Where a wizard with artistic ability somehow infused a portrait of his wife with the story of their life together so that their love for each other would live on long after their death. Or at least that's what my friend Laurel said. But unfortunately she couldn't even remember the name of the story. Just that she read it as a sprog. She said she'll ask her mum about it though."

Interest immediately caught, Teddy asked how old the book in question was. When had the artist supposedly made the painting? What was his name?

Hugo just shrugged.

"Do you even know the title of the book?" Wren wanted to know, his skepticism written all over his face.

"Nope. But that's never stopped me before. I'm a library master."

"Finding just the right book is sort of his superpower." Teddy agreed with a laugh.

Hugo grinned before something obviously occurred to him. "Teddy...did you take the day off work?"

A moment for that to sink in.

"Oh, bugger. I'm going to be late."

"You better get going then. Regulus and I will help Hugo in the library."

Damn. He didn't want to leave, especially when there might be something at the school's library that would help explain things, but he also couldn't shrink his responsibilities at work. He had a lot of people who depended on him.

"Go." Regulus told him. "I will tell you over dinner what we find out."

"All right. Sorry I can't stay. I'll ask around at work. See if anyone has heard of the story."

"Go. We got this." Hugo added, giving Teddy a thumbs up.

"I'll bring dinner to your house. What time suits you?"

"We'll bring dinner to his house." Wren stated before Teddy could answer. The look he gave Regulus making it clear the Ravenclaw wasn't going to let his cousin be alone with Teddy any time soon.

Oh well. This was a way easier 'obstacle' to overcome than the ones their ancestors had faced.

"See you at six?"

A rueful smile. "We'll be there."

Grinning, and hopeful that there'd be plenty to tell him when the two cousins showed up at his house, Teddy mentally said to heck with their audience and pulled Regulus in for a heated kiss that had Wren very loudly complaining.

Teddy barely heard him as Regulus kissed him back.

)

When Teddy got back to the Ministry he found himself getting some looks that made it pretty clear what they thought he'd been up to on his long lunch break. And it had nothing to do with eating. At least not in the traditional sense. And that was a thought that had Teddy's hair going as red as any Weasley's as he flushed and hunched his shoulders while hurrying towards his office and the safe haven it should provide. Should being the operative word. His assistant gave him a look that made Teddy feel like a teenager again. Or how he figured a teenager would feel coming back from a really good date to find his mother waiting for him with a knowing smirk.

His grandmother had been more the crossed arms and 'I know everything' look type.

Closing his door before Lilah could comment Teddy locked it for good measure, breathing out a sigh of relief. He wasn't ready to talk about Regulus and their circumstances just yet. He didn't want to jinx things. Especially when he already had Wren to deal with.

A knock at the door.

"Teddy?"

"Yes..?"

"Are you hiding from me in there?"

"Yes."

Lilah's delighted laughter came through the door, clear as a bell.

"I have a date after work so don't tell me I have to stay late. Please." Technically he was her boss, not the other way around, but if she thought they needed to burn the midnight oil he'd have to reschedule. And that would not go over well. Though if he and Regulus tried to make a go of it that would be something Regulus would have to get used to.

"And who's the lucky bloke or girl?"

"No one you know. A cousin of a friend of mine." Or at least he and Wren had been friendly before this. Teddy supposed that was now in question.

"Male or female?"

"Male. His name is Regulus."

"Wasn't that the name of Sirius Black's younger brother? You showed me his bedroom one time when I was visiting you."

"Yeah. Weird, huh?"

"And his cousin is..?"

"James's obsession."

"Professor Owens? Seriously? Does he look just like him? Please tell me he's not as remote and cold as Wren is. You need someone loving and warm and-though I guess maybe it would be for the best if he was as strong willed because you work far too hard and need someone to take care of you."

"I don't need someone to-"

"You do, Boss." Lilah stated in her 'my word is law' voice. "And if this is the bloke that's had you all mopey and dreamy then you better introduce me to him soon, understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Now can I go finish my work?"

"Our work is never done. How have you not realized that by now?"

The woman had a point.

"Right. Then I'm going to get to it. No interruptions unless it's important. Or it's Regulus or Hugo."

"Check."